Crime, Love, and Gotham
by imalionrawr010
Summary: Autumn Davis and Alice Burnette are best friends struggling not only to survive in the tough city of Gotham, but also trying to find love and pay the rent. Rated M for language.
1. Chapter 1

**A new story! And an update! It's taken me a while to actually post something, but I think you'll like this story. It's something a very good friend, Brenda, and I have started. The characters will switch back and forth; you will know when the POV's change, but we'll be keeping who's character is who's. For now ;D rated M for language Hope you like :]**

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><p><strong>Chaper one:<strong>

The scent of sugar and baked goods swirled around me, probably because it was embedded deep into my skin. Forever I will smell like cake, people will meet me and their mouths will water. Children will instantly become hyper and unbearable within my presence. But, this was the life I wanted to live. The life that I had dreamed about for years…

Although, now that I had it, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. Looking around my empty little shop, I felt my heart start to plunge into my feet. The pastel colored walls, a pink that looked like cotton candy, made my stomach turn. The tiny little French café styled tables made me want to scream. All of the hours decorating this place were enough to make me break down in tears. It wasn't fair; I spent all the money I had just to get my parents to tell me I told you so. I made damn good cakes, I had customers but I wasn't booming with business. The place was slow enough for just me to run it.

So, from nine in the morning to seven at night I was here. I spent the day all by myself, nothing but the sounds of a baking pie or the whirring of the mixer, a phone call or a handful of customers were my only company.

"I should have become a fucking doctor." I muttered to myself, sipping the coffee I had made myself. I looked up at the wall clock; it was the retro black cat clock. It had been a gag gift from a friend of mine, but in all honesty, I was very attached to it. It was only a little after noon.

Seriously?

I turned my back to the door, staring into the sterile and still bakery. If I had a staff the place would be cramped and almost impossible to work in. But for just little ole me, it was perfect. An oversized kitchen for me to create in.

I heard the little bell on my door ring, I spun around like an over excited puppy, wagging its tail like a whip. I saw a tall, elderly man who was dressed in a causal suit. He gave me a pleasant smile, reminding me of a grandfather that always gave you hard candy.

"Hello, welcome to Cake Paradise." I cheered, "how can I help you today sir?"

"Well I want a cake made for a friend of mine, it's his birthday." The older man gave me another smile, "I also like to help out new businesses."

I smiled back, "well I make a pretty damn good cake," it was a cocky statement but it was never a truer one. "Can I have a name for this order?" I pulled out a small order from and a pen.

"Wayne, or would you want my name?" He asked, still smiling at me. By now I was wondering if he was paid to be so nice.

"Either or is fine," I replied, in the back of my mind I recognized the last name. But from what, standing there I blankly filled out the order. A three tiered cake, each layer a different flavor of cake but covered in butter cream frosting. Nothing too difficult.

Just about as I was going to give the sweet elderly man an estimate on the cake, I remembered what was so intriguing about the name. I started to laugh, it was a soft noise but loud enough for the man to hear me.

"For some reason, I thought this cake was for Bruce Wayne, how silly of me." I said, rolling my blue grey eyes. "As if right?"

Instead of the man laughing with me, he looked a little surprised, "either my master is very well known or you must be able to read minds."

I stared at him for a very long time, I felt as if my mind was a scratched CD and it was skipping. If I was making a cake for _the_ Bruce Wayne, this might kick my business into high gear. I could actually make a living; no longer will I have to live in my rundown apartment and eat nothing but top ramen. I wanted to jump up and down, maybe even throw my arms around this man.

"I have one more request ma'am," the man said, "if you could please deliver it to the Wayne Enterprises in person? I will be unable to pick it up."

I slowly nodded my head; my red hair fell into my face. "Y-y-yeah I can do that." I muttered, still in shock about this turn of events.

The man turned to leave, but he paused at the door. "I forgot to get your name Miss, so I can give the front desk a heads up before you drop off the cake."

I cleared my throat, "Autumn Davis," I replied in a whisper.

Once more he smiled at me, opening the door and letting the sweet sound of the chiming bell to fill the room. When I was all alone in my tiny little shop, that was my dreams come true, I laid my head down on the white counter top. My heart was racing nervously; I had to bake this perfect cake. If this was a party there was bound to be press, I was going to get some coverage of some sort. Like a high school girl that just got asked out on her first date, I ran to the wall phone in my creative kitchen and dialed my best friend.

It rang once, twice, a third time. I waited it out before the voice mail picked up. Sighing I mouthed the entire little message; I hated how these things hadn't changed since they were first made.

"I know you're probably super busy with all of those people who hear voices or whatever but I want you to take a lunch break because I have something I need to tell you. I don't want to tell you on the phone. I refuse to." I was babbling, by now my best friend Alice knew that this meant I was excited.

"Call me back, as soon as possible. Or I will keep on calling you." I ended my message with a playful threat, just to make sure that she got the hint that I needed her. I placed the phone back into its holder. Hands on my hips I walked around the small room. A smile couldn't stay away from my face. I looked over at the phone; it was as silent as a corpse. I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to call her nonstop…

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><p>ALICE POV<p>

_Goddamn, Autumn._

I pressed the red buttone and ignored her fifth call. I was currently stuck in a meeting with several doctors including Jeremiah Arkham, the owner and resident egg-head of Arkham Aylum. We had been reporting on our clients and how we were treating them. Many doctors argued with each other that their treatment was the right one or instructed others how to do their job. This hadn't been part of medical school.

I had already discussed my patients and treatments and was patiently waiting for the other doctors to wrap up their spiels. Across the table from me was Jonathan Crane, a psychiatrist at the asylum. Recently, he had been getting several of Carmine Falcone's thugs into the asylum by claiming that they were insane. A lot of people disagreed with him, but there was one case I agreed on; Victor Zsasz. I mean, the guy cut people up for the mob and hobby. And then he tallied the kills on his own body.

Jonathan's ice blue eyes locked onto my foresty green ones and a sly grin grew on his face. There was no point in denying that he and I had been seeing each other for a while. He was actually the one who convinced me to intern at Arkham in my last year at Gotham University. I could tell the look on his face was asking for a lunch time delight. With a snort, I looked back at my boss, hoping this stupid meeting was ending soon.

"Alright doctors," Jeremiah called, breaking up a rather heated argument between a male doctor and a female intern. "Let's discuss this another time. Seeing that it's 12:30, and we're all hungry, we'll reconvine at two. Is that alright with everyone?"

Everyone nodded and closed their notebooks and gathered their things. We shuffled out of the meeting room, stomachs growling everywhere. Knowing Jonathan was following me, I tried to appear busy while walking to my office. Retrieving my cell phone, I noticed I had several voice mails. I put the phone to my ear to hear Autumn bitch about me never answering blah blah blah. Once the voice mails ended, I sent her a text and put my key in the lock to enter my office.

There was suddenly a pair of hands on my hips and a set of lips at my neck. A small smile came to my face as I threw the door open and pulled away from him. Like a puppy, Jonathan followed me and shut the door behind him. He sat on my desk while I put my jacket on and retrieved my car keys.

"Where are you going?" Jonathan asked, crossing his arms.

"Autumn's bakery. She left me like ten voice mails. Apparently she has something important to tell me." I gave him a smile and a light kiss on his lips. Jonathan rolled his eyes. "What?"

"Can't she wait until you're done with work?"

"You know she can't. Besides, you and I have lunch together everyday and dinner most of the time, too. I'll be back before two anyway." I turned on my heel and left him in my office.

After manuvering through the multiple security checkpoints, I arrived at my car that had once belonged to my father, a '98 BMW 750iL. The only reason I had it was because my mother couldn't stand selling it after my dad died so she gave it to me knowing I'd actually take care of it. I dropped by a Chinese restaruant before arriving at Cake Paradise at 12:57.

"Allie, you won't believe who just walked in!" Autumn squealed, running to a cafe table with two cups of coffee.

"Nice to see you too, Tummy," Personally, I loved the nickname I had given her in sixth grade. Autumn just thought it ment I was calling her fat. "Got some eats. It's Chinese."

After pulling out two styrofaom cartons, one for her, the other for me, I gave Autumn a fork and we both dug into our asian lunch.

"So what's going on now? An old boyfriend or something? Don't tell me it was Cole."

"Psh, Cole's old news compared to this. Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler, ordered a cake!"

I almost choked on my sesame chicken. "Alfred Pennyworth? That's pretty much like Bruce Wayne walked in here himself-"

"I know!"

"-I heard that if Alfred goes some where, like a restaruant or clothing store, if he gives it even an okay review, that place gets an amazing amount of business." I spoke quickly and excitedly, as if we were in grade school again.

"That's why I HAVE to make the perfect cake. The fate of my business relies on this one cake. If Wayne and Pennyworth give it two thumbs up, I can move into a bigger space, hire qualified people, and rake in some serious dough." Autumn had a strong look of determination in her eye. I knew it well; it ment that she was on the path to get what she wanted. And no one could stop her. Not even her annoyingly strict parents.

"Maybe you can finally get a boyfriend too," I mused, playing with my stirfried veggies and udon noodles. An amuzed smile came to her.

"Yeah, one of those would be nice. Speaking of, what's going on with Jonathan?"

I played with my noodles some more then finally put a clump of the Chinese pasta in my mouth. Autumn waited patiently as I pushed around my chicken, chewing my noodles and veggies. Soon, I swallowed the noodle-vegetable mush and quickly replaced it with a piece of chicken. My best friend's patience was wearing thin as she began to tap her foot on the floor. Knowing I was going to tell her sooner or later, I finished my chicken and took a deep breath.

"I think he's cheating on me." I avoided the gaze of my best friend. It was embarrassing to me; I hadn't ever had a guy cheat on me...that I knew of.

"Really?" Autumn leaned on the table, waiting to hear more. "And how did you come to that conclusion?"

"He's always out late and he makes up these really piss-poor excuses of 'oh, I was at the asylum doing some work,' or 'I went out for dinner with the guys.' And he'll call me at work and ask me to tell Jeremiah that he's taking a sick day." I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms.

"Dump him," Autumn said, digging into her fried rice. "I said this in the beginning and I'll say it now: Jonathan Crane is a loser and he always will be. After four years of dating he won't even ask you to move in. What kind of douche does that?"

I wanted to defend him, but there was nothing to defend. Except probably the great sex. "You know my mom's going to be heartbroken when I tell her Jon and I have split. I think she loves him more than I do."

"Well, it's not her relationship, is it? If you're going to dump him, don't wait too long. Let's not get stuck in a relationship you can't get out of, yeah? So, the doctors at the asylum still buzzing about the Batman?"

I loved how well Autumn knew me and how often we were on the same page. We should have been born as sisters. But instead she got stuck with parents who were as strict as the Nazi SS, and I got the dirt poor parents who had four kids too many too soon. Sometimes I wish I had been born into Autumn's family where the house was quiet and I didn't have to babysit a brother who was two years younger and twin sisters who were ten years younger than I. I knew Autumn would have rather been born into my family, where going to the principle wasn't a matter to call a psychologist on. Mr. and Mrs. Davis had been rather shocked that it was their daughter who decided to be a baker and that the Burnett's daughter had chosen to be a psychologist.

After Autumn and I finished our lunch, we threw the styrofoam containers away and said goodbye. I didn't want to go back to work and see Jonathan. Not after what Autumn and I had talked about. I had to break up with him. Or at least confront him about the subject. I wasn't very good about breaking up with guys. Especially those who worked with me.

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><p><strong>I hope you guys really like this :D We both have lots of fun writting it together c: Please review it and tell friends about it...if you like it, haha. Constructive criticism is welcomed. Chapter two should be up soon :]<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two:**

AUTUMN POV

I wiped the back of my hand against my forehead, a streak of frosting slid across. My cheeks were flushed from the heat of the oven and lack of air condition in the room. After a full afternoons work, I was finished with the cake that could turn my business around. It was a terrible idea for Alfred to come to me with a day's notice, but I managed to get the cake done. And it was just after midnight.

I boxed it up and placed it in the fridge to keep it a little chilled over night; I made my way through the bakery switching off all of the lights until I got to the door. Looking down the dark streets I sighed, I wish I had money for a car. But as it was I barely had money for rent and I was too stubborn to go to my parents. Locking the door behind me I set off into the night, enjoying the fact I only lived three blocks away.

Halfway to my shitty apartment, I heard footsteps behind me, they were soft but quick. My heartbeat increased and I felt my breath catch in my throat. This is what I get for living in one of the most crime ridden cities. Slowly I spun around, clutching my keys between my fingers as if they were claws. I knew how to throw a right hook and break a nose, it might not be enough, but at least it's something.

When I turned around I faced the vast emptiness of the dark night.

"Oh fuck me, I work too hard." I muttered under my breath as I turned around and started to head back to my home. But a few steps later I heard footsteps again, but this time they had multiplied and sounded thunderous against the sidewalk. I didn't have time to turn around and face my predator because within moments a bulky arm snaked around my body, squeezing the life out of me.

"Gimme ya purse!" The voice hissed harsh and hot into my ear and down my neck, I shuddered in pure disgust. The man smelled putrid, as if he hadn't showered in a very long time. My eyes were on the pavement, but I could see around me that a gang had began to gather around us.

Gang rape has to be one of my biggest fears.

"I SAID, GIMME YA PURSE, BITCH!" The voice howled, reaching for my worn and tattered black purse.

I moved as if I were a trained fighter, it's odd how fear can turn you into a superhero. I shoved my elbow into his stomach, with the air knocked out of him, my attacker stumbled back. Free from his snake like grasp I turned around fast, with the keys still between my fingers I slammed my fist into his face. Blood, red, warm, and thick, splattered on my face like pant. Stretching my legs out I burst into a sprint and was able to break through the circle. As if my life depended on some fucked up game of Red Rover.

I managed to get just a few feet away before I was tackled to the ground by a man who was about a hundred or more pounds heavier than me. When I hit the pavement my body bounced, head smacking against the pavement, before it fell into a heap on the sidewalk. The men were a chorus of laughter behind me. Blinded and paralyzed from pain I couldn't do anything but listen as the man on top of me walked a few inches to grab my purse.

With my eyes shut tight I hoped with all of my being that they would take it and run. I didn't want to die; I didn't want to become someone's kidnapped sex slave. As the pain in my head intensified I grew fuzzy and even with my eyes closed I was dizzy.

I passed out cold.

When I came too I felt as if I was suffering from the world's worst hangover, a weekend in Mexico bad. Slowly I started to open my eyes, almost afraid to find myself in a shittier apartment than my own. But instead I saw the gray ground and the toes of midnight black boots. I started to sit up, ignoring the sea sickness feeling, brushing my red hair out of the way I was finally able to see who was in front of me.

There he was Gotham's most beloved crime fighter, Batman. He stood tall but looked menacing in a way, with my purse by his feet. With his face covered in a mask I was sure felt like being smothered by a pair of seventies leather pants, it was hard to pick out an expression for him.

"All you alright?" He voice was like sliding gravel, a soft tumbling growl. It gave me the shivers but unlike before it wasn't from disgust.

I scooped up my bag as I climbed up to my feet; I felt dried blood on my face. I hoped that it wasn't mine.

"I've been better," I replied breathlessly. I stared into the eyes of my savior, they were blank and void of emotion. I guess once you turn saving damsels into a full time job, it stops affecting you.

How do you thank Batman?

"I saw what you did; it was a pretty good punch." He growled at me, his voice held an undertone of astonishment.

I shrugged my shoulders, thinking I had to look as modest as possible. "Living here you need to pick up something right?"

Batman grunted in agreement.

"Well thank you, a lot," I whispered as I started to walk again. I gave him a little wave and a smile, feeling incredibly socially awkward. But no one ever goes over how to say goodbye to a hero.

Once I stepped inside my humble abode, I flicked on the light only to figure out the power was out. I should have noticed the black windows when I got home but I was far too tired to care. I kicked off my shoes and made my way into my bedroom. I wanted to take a running leap into my bed but I settled for a zombie like walk. Falling into it as if were my tomb I closed my eyes, only to have my ears tune to the sound of my neighbors fighting from below me.

I covered my head with my pillow; it did little to drown out the sound. But somehow I managed to fall asleep fully clothed in the noisy apartment with the hot sticky air all around me. I dreamt of punching more gangsters after another as if I was a superhero myself.

The next morning I woke up to the beeping of my answering machine, I rolled over and slammed my hand down on it. While the robotic introduction started I got out of bed and headed for my closet.

"I broke up with Jonathan after work," Alice's message started. Her voice seemed strained; she was no doubt holding back tears while she had called me. "He didn't take it too well; in fact I was a little scared."

There was a small pause as a shaky breath rattled through the phone.

"Call me back when you can okay Tummy?" She almost pleaded as she hung up the phone. I rushed over to grab my little phone; it was missing from its holder. I had no doubt it was on my couch lying there dead.

I made a mental note to call her from the shop as I headed into the bathroom, turning the light on I almost screamed when I met my reflection in the mirror. My lip was swollen and purple; I had three long cuts on my cheek. The worst of all was the black eye; it stuck out on my pale face.

I hoped even more than I had last night that makeup would be able to cover up this mess.

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><p>ALICE POV<p>

I sat on the edge of my bed, my cell phone still in my hand. My thumb hovered over the touch screen button that called Autumn's cell. I had just gotten off the phone with my boss, Jeremiah Arkham. He had generously given me the day off. But knowing Autumn, she probably just fell into bed and neglected to charge it last night. With a sigh, I tossed the device onto my bed and went to my closet to change out of my pj's.

As I shimmied into my skinny jeans, my phone began to play as 30 second excerpt from I'm on a Boat by The Lonely Island. It was Autumn's ringtone; she had picked it when I got the phone. Stumbling to my bed, I finished zipping and buttoning my pants and saw that she was calling from her bakery. I quickly slid the answer slider across the screen.

"Hello?" I asked, pressing my phone to my ear even though I knew who the caller was.

"Allie, I'm sorry I didn't call ASAP I-"

"Forgot to charge your phone?"

Autumn chuckled softly into the microphone of her work phone. "You know me too well, Alice Burnett. Anyway, why aren't you at work?"

"Jeremiah gave me the day off."

"Is it that bad?"

I couldn't answer as my eyes began to fill with tears. The scene wouldn't stop playing in my head.

"Christ," Autumn hissed. "You get over to Cake Paradise right now. I need to tell you something and your car anyway."

Numbly, I mumbled an okay and hung up the phone. Sticking my cell phone into my back pocket, I slipped on an old pair of vans. I picked my keys and purse off of the table I had put in the foyer and locked the door behind me as I left. My car started easily and in the darkness of the parking garage, I put on my head lights. The lights soon became unnecessary as I exited the garage and onto the street.

The drive from my apartment to Cake Paradise took about rten minutes. I was shocked by how little traffic there was. My apartment was in a relatively safe neighborhood in Gotham, which ment that it was further away from the heart of the city. And from the Narrows. Usually, the drive would have taken me twenty minutes with light traffic. There was no knowing how long it would take in heavy traffic; that much was unpredictable. After parallel parking infront of Autumn's bakery, I locked the car and went into the store.

Three boxes sat on the main counter, I assumed they were the tiers of Bruce Wayne's cake. Autumn magically appeared from behind the counter and nearly knocked me down with the jumping hug she gave me. Instantly, she demanded that I tell her about Jonathan as soon as we got the cake into the car. Personally, I wanted to ask about the cut on her head, but I thought I'd tell my story first. Autumn took the biggest, and heaviest, boxed tier from the front counter while I followed her with the other tiers in their own boxes.

My best friend practically glared at me as I sat in the driver's seat and started up the German made car. Her eyes bored holes into the side of my head. With a small laugh, I looked over at her. "What?"

"Tell me what happened!"

"Alright, alright. Well, uh, when I got back to the hospital, Jonathan was waiting for me in my office. Literally right where I left him-"

"Dude, that's fuckin' weird."

"-I know. Anyway, I kind of ignored him and his advances."

"Was he really trying to get it on at work? What a tool!" Autumn howled with laughter while I drove, carful of the cakes in the backseat.

"So I told him to clear off, that we were done. I believe that relationships between co-workers can be toxic and that whatever was his in my apartment was going to be sitting in boxes in the hallway. He took it fine - at first - and then left my office. I drove home when I got off work and packed the small amount of things he had at my place. After that, I called the locksmith to get my locks changed.

"Well, as the locksmith was on his knees in the middle of the hallway, changing the locks, Jon came. He blew a fucking gasket. With this incredible, Hulk like strength, he hit the the locksmith."

Autumn's mouth fell open as I slowly braked at a stoplight five blocks away from Wayne Enterprises. "Is he insane? He hit the locksmith? What happened next?"

"Well, after punching out the locksmith, he yelled at me. He wanted to know why I was changing the locks and I didn't say anything. Jonathan waited like ten or fifteen minutes for me to answer but I didn't. So he laughed in my face and told me to watch my next step and to sleep with one eye open. 'A change of the locks can't protect you from what's going to happen.'"

"What a fucking psycho. Just be glad that you're out of it now and not later when there could have been legalities to get past and kids to protect. Know what I mean?" Autumn hopped out of the car as I parallel parked infront of the Wayne building. Yeah, I knew what my best friend ment. I still couldn't help but think Jonathan had been making a promise. I scratched the spot on my head that always itched when I became irritated. Still wanting to know what happened to her head, I decided to just wait until our chore was finished to ask.

AUTUMN POV

Alice trailed behind me as we walked into the lobby of Wayne Enterprises as I carried the biggest layer of Bruce Wayne's birthday cake. I was secretly jealous of her strength, she carried two layers of the cake with no problem at all. Her height of five foot seven to my five foot four was another point of jealousy. But, she was my best friend and what I lacked in height, I had in baking. A doorman held the glass door open for Alice and I as we trugged to the front desk.

A bottle blonde receptionist practically sneered at us as we set the cakes on to the counter. "Can I help you?" She snapped.

"Uh yes, I'm Autumn Davis. I'm dropping off a cake for Alfred Pennyworth." I smiled sweetly, trying to win the receptionist over. My tactic seemed to work and she smiled back, picking up the phone to dial up stairs.

"He'll be down in a moment."

Thanking her, Alice and I took the cakes and went to the waiting area. Alice set her cakes onto the coffee table and I sat on a leather sofa, my layer on my lap. She looked around the lobby, rather taken in by her surroundings. My friend put her hands on her hips and then glared at me.

"What happened to your head?"

"I got mugged." I said simply, playing ittsy bittsy spider with my hands.

Alice's mouth fell open. "You got mugged? When were you going to tell me? Did you even bother to report it to the police?"

"Didn't need to," I shrugged. Looking up at her I smiled mischeviously. "Batman stopped the mugging."

Her mouth went wider. She had mentioned once or twice to me that she would love to get a chat in with the Batman. Not to diagnose him with schizophenia or bi-polar disorder, but to understand why. Alice was the kind of psychologist to understand why and how, not the how to fix the problem. I could tell she was jealous of my brief interaction with the city's vigilante.

"The Batman? What'd he say, what was-"

"Excuse me ladies, are you the ones dropping off my birthday cake?" A sly and smooth manly voice spoke, interrupting Alice. I placed my cake on the glass table and stood up.

Bruce Wayne stood infront of us, hands in his trouser pockets and a broad smile on his oaky brown hair was coiffed perfectly and the rest of his tailored suit appeared to by fitted by a god of clothes. On his feet were shiny leather shoes that looked very expensive. I was pretty sure that I could never afford a pair like that. Alice had a couple pairs of 900 dollar shoes. Granted she bought the first pair with her first official asylum paycheck, when she was still at home. Infact, Alice had liked them enough to buy me a pair before she bought a second pair for herself. Often, I found myself feeling the need to protect my heels just incase someone broke in.

I was gawking. I couldn't help it. Bruce Wayne, despite what was in the tabloids, was really handsome. He was much better looking, and taller, in person. Alice chuckled abit and held her hand out to shake his.

"Alice Burnette, Mister Wayne. We were told to deliver the cakes to Alfred." Alice broke the ice, Wayne's larger hand gripped onto her normal sized one and they shook briefly.

"Oh, don't worry about him," Bruce winked. "But I thought the cakes were made by an Autumn Davis?"

I tried to speak, I really did. But it was difficult to find words for greeting the billionare whose cake I had delivered. I cursed Alice for acting so smooth. "Yes, they were. I'm just helping deliver. Normally, I work at Arkham but today I decided I'd help Autumn."

"Ah!" Wayne smiled, projecting his hand outwards, waiting for me to shake it. "The creator. Alfred tells me you have quite the...what's the word he used?, adorable bakery."

Alice nudged me with her elbow. Instantly remembering where I was and what we were doing, my hand shot into his and gripped it as best as a starstruck girl could.

"I'm Autumn Davis," I announced, probably a bit louder than I should have.

"Excellent. May I perhaps see the cake? Alfred has always been stingy with allowing me to see my cake before my party-"

"Absolutely not, Master Wayne!" Alfred's voice suddenly called through the lobby. Alice, Wayne, and myself watched the Brit shuffle to where we were standing. "Do you always watch the security feeds, looking for cakes to prey on, sir?"

"Only when today's my birthday." Bruce replied to his butler. I had read somewhere that Bruce considered Alfred to be his second father. That the butler, despite being old when Thomas and Martha Wayne were killed, still raised Bruce as he thought the child's mother and father would.

Two other men came and took the cakes from Alice and myself, and took them out of the lobby, headed for a Rolls-Royce. Bruce and Alfred bickered playfully as Bruce filled out a check and tore it from it's little book.

"It's a blank check, so just write in the amount and cash it and the bank may have to have verification that it is from me. The number on the check goes straight to Alfred. Tell them to call him and he'll verify it," Bruce seemed to go on and on forever. "By the way, what're you two doing tonight?"

I looked at Alice who only shrugged. "Nothing really. Why do you ask?" I asked.

"Why don't you two come to Wayne Manor and party for bit?"

Alice excused herself while her phone rang and she answered it. I don't remember agreeing to come to Bruce's party, but I apparently did. Once again, Bruce shook my hand, but excused himself and Alfred. As the two walked away they continued their jovial argument. When Alice returned, Bruce and Alfred had gotten into the Rolls-Royce and drove off, probably to Wayne mannor.

"So I guess we're going dress shopping, huh?" Alice asked even though her mind seemed like it was on something else.

"Yep. Who was the call from?"

"It was from Jeremiah." She called before we both got into the car. I didn't even have to ask what about. "He said Jonathan hadn't shown up to work and that no one was answering his home phone or cell."

"Hmn," I muttered. "Weird. Anyway, were do you wanna go shopping for dresses?"

A broad grin grew on my friend's face. Other than listening to crazy people, shopping was one of her favorite hobbies. Not even answering my question, Alice turned on the car and entered traffic. It was up to me to keep her mind off of Jonathan Crane. She absolutely could not go back to him. At the time, I was pretty sure there was no one worse for her than that asshole.

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><p><strong>Please review and tell your friends :D (if you want). BTW, neither Brenda or I own any DC Universe Comics WB material, stocks, ideas, blah blah blah. Our OC's are our own.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I know, it took way too long to publish :c Brenda's got a new job recently, and my Satan's mistress of an Aunt was at my house...either way, we sincerely hope you enjoy! Disclaimer: Neither Brenda or I own any DC/Warner Bros. material, characters, ideas, or anything. Alice and Autumn, however, are ours.**

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><p><strong>Chapter three<strong>

A few hours later I found myself in an upscale dress shop in the middle of Gotham; this place reminded me of my childhood. My mother would always go to places like this and tried her hardest to get me to dress like her. Living how I did now, it was easy to forget that I came from an upper middle class family; it was weird to see how Alice and I switched roles. I was now the broke friend while she footed the bill for a lot of our outings.

"What do you think?" Alice asked from behind me, the creak of the fitting room door following her voice. I spun around in my chair, observing her in what was probably her tenth dress. This time it was a dark green halter dress that was long and curve hugging, just leaving a little bit to the imagination.

"I think that this is the dress for tonight," Alice purred as she turned around to look at the full body mirror behind her. "It makes a nice impression," she sounded so confident and pleased.

"How much does it cost?" I asked, just curious as to what my friend would be spending. She looked over at me and waved that question off, as if it didn't matter.

"What about you, have you seen anything that you like?"

I shrugged at her question, "to be honest I took a look around but nothing seemed to really catch my eye. I don't think I'll find anything here."

She gave me a forlorn look, "well let's go to another store then."

"Don't worry Alice; I'll just wear something that I already own." I gave my close friend a small smile.

"But this could be an important night…" She argued, her tone though was gentle, she was trying hard not to upset me.

"Honestly, I have a closet full of dresses." I really didn't, I only had a few only one wasn't a casual dress. But it was more of a cocktails and dancing dress than a rich party dress. I grabbed my bag from off the floor and slung it over my shoulder.

"I'll see you at the party; at least I hope I will." With a tight hug I left the store and started to walk down the street, I was so used to walking that the blocks between this store and my apartment was nothing.

I didn't get very far; turning the corner a small little boutique caught my eye. It looked out of place with the elaborate buildings surrounding it. It was quirky in a way, with its light green trim on the building. I crossed the street to examine it closer and by closer I mean I walked right in.

It was a tiny shop; I could see everything just from the front door. Only one tall woman stood at the register, she had a pleasant smile on her face.

"If you see anything you like, the dressing room is right behind me." She broadened her smile; I could tell that she spent a lot of time alone in her business. My heart went out to her, I knew the feeling well.

I was drawn to a dress in the corner, it reminded me a 1920's flapper dress, the top was made of black lace, and a thick blood red ribbon marked the middle of the dress, while the bottom was the classic layered fabric you saw in the time. I felt like I needed to have this dress, it would be the perfect thing. Nervously I pulled the handwritten price tag from inside the dress.

My mouth popped open in surprise.

"Sixty dollars," I whispered to myself. I winced at the price, thinking that maybe I missed a zero or something. But I hadn't, I was staring at probably the cheapest dress in the district. I walked over to the counter.

"Is this dress on clearance?" I asked as I laid it on the counter, prepared to pay for it right now.

The shop owner shook her head, "No all of my dresses are priced like that. Come to think of it the most expensive is just a little under two hundred. I try to price the dresses I make at a reasonable price. But so far, people see the price and think they are cheap."

I handed her the cash, "I'd rather have a reasonable priced handmade dress than a pricy machine made one any day."

ALICE POV

I stood outside the Wayne Manor, fighting the shivers that were running down my body. Maybe I shouldn't have gone with such a summer dress. Already I was questioning what I was wearing; I saw other women in furs and embellished dresses. I felt as if I was sticking out like a sore thumb. I wanted to be noticeable but for all the right reasons. With my arms crossed over my chest I stalked the sidewalk as I waited for Autumn, I knew I should have picked her up. I wouldn't be so surprised if she didn't show up.

Just as I was about to dial her and scream, I saw a cab pull up, I only knew one person who would take a cab to this party. Sure enough, Autumn stepped out of the cab she waved at me as if she wasn't twenty minutes late.

"What took you so long?" I asked as I neared her, the closer I got the better I could see her outfit. "A leather jacket and a flapper costume?" I was astonished.

She laughed and started to walk up the steep stairs to the open front door, "it's an actual dress. I think I look pretty chic. Please don't tell me you actually care about how you look now." She retorted as she stepped into the foyer.

"I'm just nervous that's all," I whispered. "I might as well try and find a rich husband," I was partially joking.

Side by side we followed a small cluster of rich old men into a larger room, were waiters were handing out cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, we each took a cocktail and started to wander around the room. Catching a few conversations I felt annoyance towards these people, they were all snobs. They all tried to outdo the storyteller, if one went to France another was related to French royalty. I was tried just listening in.

"I wonder where Bruce is." I asked my friend in a whisper, we huddled around a corner. Watching the rich folk like you would watch a program on National Geographic.

"I wonder where a bathroom is." Autumn said as she handed me her drink and started to disappear within the cluster of people.

The moment she was gone, two young and handsome men walked up to me. They were wearing matching tuxes and matching smiles, in a moment I recognized them as twins. I always knew that Autumn intimidated men.

"Can I help you two," I purred and set down the glasses on a nearby coffee table. I didn't want to look like an alcoholic.

BRUCE POV

I hovered upstairs, looking down at my party with a slight disinterest. I should go down, it was a party for me, but I had other things on my mind. It was a rarity that I did not spend the night hunting down the criminal scum that lingered on Gotham's streets, so it made it a challenge to try and ignore it. Sighing I straightened my tie for the fourth time; I was going to go downstairs and mingle. I had to.

I heard the soft clicking of heels ascending, curious I peered over the edge and saw the baker climbing the stairs. She looked interesting with a leather jacket and short dress; it was an unexpected beauty that I could appreciate.

"Ms. Davis, what are you doing up here?" I asked, closing the gap between us. Our feet nudged against each other.

She gave me a deer in the headlights look for a moment before giving a nervous smile.

"I was far more interested in seeing your home then being a part of the party." She whispered, stepping backwards.

If I only spent time with one person would it count as mingling? I looked into her eyes, feeling as if I've seen the same scared but intelligent look. It took a few moments for me to remember that I had seen her a few nights before, but I had met her as Batman.

"Want a tour?" I asked, extending my arm out into the dark hallway. "I don't really want to go down there either."

She raised an eyebrow and started to head into the hallway, "but you're a well known playboy Mr. Wayne. Don't you enjoy a good party?"

I followed close behind, boldly placing my hand on her lower back. "Some nights I would prefer the company of one person over hundreds."

We walked further along, making light conversation; we stopped in one of the studies within the manor. Autumn traced the spines of the old leather bound books, I watched her from the doorframe.

"You seem a lot less nervous than earlier today." I remarked, "It's almost like you're a different person."

I started to walk over to her; there was something I found interesting about Autumn. I've gotten so used to the cookie cutter model types I "dated" it was refreshing to meet a strange woman like her.

She looked at me, "either it's the alcohol or the leather jacket. But tonight I don't feel too much like myself. I'll probably do something I normally wouldn't do tonight."

"Like tour the home of a man you just met a few hours ago?"

She gave me a smirk, "I've done that before."

Laughing I leaned my face closer to hers; my movement returned her to the state of nervousness I had seen before. It was nice to know she wasn't pretending to be someone else to impress me.

"I think it's time we go cut that cake of yours," I gently grabbed her wrist and heading downstairs to finally greet my guests.

ALICE POV

I was getting annoyed with the twins. They constantly spoke of tennis tournaments with the young Prince's of Britain and tea with the Prince's grandmother. As if their relations of to the British Royalty impressed me. I didn't care about who they were friends with, or how much money they had. But apparently, these snobs thought that connections made someone fall for them. The whole time Autumn had been gone, I had been alone with these two, and I had downed both mine and Autumn's drinks.

Politely, I excused myself from the bothersome brothers and tried to find someone else to mingle with. There was absolutely no one here that I could easily strike up a conversation with. With a hint of annoyance, I snatched a tall glass of champagne off of a waiter's tray. Now that my social crutch had effectively disappeared, I watched the crowd from a distance.

The sneer that grew on my face was uncontrollable. I couldn't help it as I overheard conversations about "did you hear about the Callahan's son? He got arrested again for embezzlement." I couldn't believe an heir to a multimillionaire business would steal money. He was already rich! What's the point of stealing it?

"Greed," A voice next to me hissed. It wasn't until he spoke that I noticed that there was someone standing next to me. "One might need a _machete_ to have a normal conversation. Perhaps one that isn't about country clubs or designer dresses_._"

The person who graced my presence with theirs was a man, who was clearly taller than me. At least six foot three. He wore a nice looking suit, it was painfully obvious that is was cheap. Probably bought at an affordable suit shop. He had wavy blonde hair that fell to his jaw. Even as he stared into the crowd, I could see that he had brown eyes. Very brown. But it wasn't his suit or his eyes that kept me looking. It was the scar on his right cheek that started at the corner of his lips and ended near his cheekbones. I could easily tell that when he had been injured, the open wounds had been brought together crudely, with the hand of an amature surgeon.

"You'd think they'd be more grateful that they can still live comfortably even though Gotham's been in a depression for so long." I noted, looking out on the crowd. They were all dolls, living in a world where crime didn't touch them and their bank accounts never went dry.

The man chuckled and faced me. I found that the scar on his right cheek was mirrored on the left. "Another skeptic. Name's...Jaacckk. Yours?" Jack extended his hand to shake and I took it.

"Alice Burnett." A thin smile grew on his face. It wasn't until he smiled that I saw his teeth. They were a tad bit yellow, but perfectly straight.

"So, how'd you get invited to this shindig?" Jack asked, playing with the whiskey he had in his glass.

"My best friend made the cake, I was helping deliver it and Bruce Wayne invited us to come." I spilled. While I talked, I couldn't help but feel like I was part of the rich crowd. "How about yourself?"

Jack opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the crowd. They began to sing Happy Birthday to Bruce as he walked into the ballroom. With Autumn on his arm. My jaw fell to the floor as I caught her eyesight. Her leather jacket had been left somewhere else and I had to admit, I loved her dress. She smiled like a school girl and motioned me over. With a gentle smile, I shook my head. Being on the arm of Bruce Wayne was her moment and I felt like I should let her have it.

"Is that your friend?" Jack asked, pointing to Autumn.

"Yeah, that's her," I laughed. "I really don't know how she got the spot next to Mr. Wayne, but she was the mastermind behind his cake."

Jack 'ah-ed' as everyone watched Wayne blow out the candles that had been stuck in the cake, most likely by Alfred. Everyone clapped after the candles went out. Servants rushed to the celebratory cake to cut slices for every party goer.

"Are you going to get a slice?" Jack asked.

"Are you kidding? Autumn makes the best cakes ever. It would be blasphemous of me not to!"

BRUCE POV

As I spoke to William Earle, the current CEO of Wayne Enterprises, I could feel the attention of Autumn slipping. We were talking about stocks and shares. She was a baker. Autumn didn't understand any of it. She didn't need to. Politely, I excused myself and I began to take Autumn around for thank you's and introductions. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lucius Fox. I didn't want to, but I excused myself from Autumn. She seemed to be getting along well with the Duchess of Northumberland, so I figured it would be fine to leave.

While I made my way to Lucius, many people wished me well. Others wanted to talk business. It was always business with these people. No matter if they were at a birthday party, a funeral, or their own kids ballet recital. Although business was in my blood, something about the constant business talk bothered me. Maybe because everywhere I went, that's all anyone wanted to talk about.

"Thank you, for that item," I spoke softly, once I reached Lucius.

"You're welcome," Lucius was preoccupied with the hors d'oeurves. "As long as you put it to good use."

"I already have."

"Mmn," The elderly black man nodded.

"How long would it take to manufacture on a large scale?"

Lucius seemed to be taken aback by my question. "Weeks. Why?"

"Somebobdy's planning to disperse the toxin using the water supply."

"Water supply won't help disperse an inhalent," He shook his head. "Unless you have a microwave emitter powerful enough to vaporize all the water in the mains... A microwave emitter like the one Wayne Enterprises just misplaced."

"'Misplaced?'" How could you lose a microwave emitter? It was large, and dangerous. To me, it was like losing a loaded pistol in one's home.

"Earle just fired me for asking too many questions about it."

"I need you to go back to Wayne Enterprises right now and start making some more of that antidote. With that thing, the police will need as much as they can get their hands on, okay?" I began to walk past my ally when he gently grabbed my arm.

"My security clearance has been revoked." Fox reminded me.

"That wouln't stop a man like you, now, would it?"

Lucius smiled slyly at me. "I suppose not."

Venturing into the crowd, I went to look for Autumn. I felt bad that I had left her with people she didn't know and my guilt increased. She, and the rest of my guests had to leave; it was extrememly urgent. I saw her in a group of people, talking specifially to someone in a beautiful green halter dress. There were unhappy looks on both of their faces. I wondered what was going on.

ALICE POV

I stood with my new found friend, Jack, eating a piece of the cake Autumn had made for the guest of honor. He had been amazed with the quality of my best friend's creation; I couldn't help but giggle as he ate the cake as if someone was going to steal it from him. Once I finished my piece, I handed the plate off to a waiter and Jack took another piece.

"So, Jack," I started, picking up a glass of sangria. "You never told me how you got invited here."

He smiled. The grin did not appear to be friendly. It was malicious, as if he had ill will to be at this party. "Let's just say, I'm an innveesstorrr." Jack spoke darkly.

I was tempted to be put off by what he had said, but at that instant, my phone went off. Politely, I excused myself and went to a quieter area to speak on the phone. Although I didn't know the number, I answered it anyway.

"Alice Burnette,"

"Dr. Burnette, this is Lieutenant Gordon."

Why would the police be calling my cell phone? Could it be about Jonathan? "How can I help you?"

"Doctor, you're needed at Arkham. We have a patient that needs to speak to you. You're also needed for questioning."

I walked with a purpose from the parking lot to the entrance at Arkham. Three or four times I had to slide my employee card. Cops buzzed around everywhere; it was normal to have a cop or two in the lobby, but not two or three in every room. One had greeted me at the entrance and allowed me to lead him through the halls. Before I was taken to where ever I was needed, I went to my office and shrugged my white coat on over my dress.

Lieutenant Gordon stood infront of a door to an interview room, another two cops flanked either side of him. Gordon exactly like all the pictures I had seen in the papers. He wasn't the tallest guy on the planet, but definitely taller than me. His hair was salt and peppered, glasses covered his eyes. Gordon didn't wear a normal cop's uniform, just a regular suit and a non-designer trench coat over his shoulders.

"Lieutenant, I hope this I real good if I'm being questioned. Who's in the room?" I asked, putting my hands in my coat pockets.

"You'll see in a moment," Gordon stepped aside, allowing the officer on his right to open the door. I began to walk into the room when Gordon spoke again. "That's a nice dress, doctor."

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><p><strong>Reviews? Please? We're eternally grateful for those we get. In the meantime, thank you for reading!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Neither Brenda or I own any DC Universe/Warner Bros. materials, charaters, ideas, stocks, whatevs. Autumn and Alice are ours.**

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><p><strong>Chapter four<strong>

I rolled my eyes a bit; what an oddball. With a flick of my bangs, I faced the occupant of the interview room. Just as I expected: Jonathan sat sideways in a chair, a straightjacket tied his arms to his sides. His blue eyes stared into mine, giving me a slight case of the heebie-jeebies. Beads of sweat rolled down his face and plastered his normally coiffed hair to the sides of his head.

My heart sunk as I saw my ex sitting in a padded room in a looney bin. I knotted my eyebrows with worry. What had he done to get here? Sitting in the chair across from Jonathan, I waited for him to say something. After a good two minutes of silence, I decided if he wasn't going to talk, I was.

"Jon, what are you doing here?" I spoke softly.

A spooky grin appeared on his thin face. "Scarecrow..." He uttered.

Again, I knotted my brow, but this time in confusion. I looked back at the officer who was watching Crane inside the room. "He's been saying that since Gordon started interrogating him."

"Great," I murmured. "Jonathan? Do you know who I am?"

"Yes," He smiled again, this time it appeared to be a soft smile. "You're Alice. You're a scarecrow," With a shaky hand, Jonathan pointed to the cop standing behind me. "He's a scarecrow, too. Everyone I've seen tonight is a scarecrow." Jonathan grinned wickedly and began to giggle. Scarecrows? Why scarecrows? I remember him telling me when he was a child, he had been deathly afraid of them. Something had gotten him to a point where everyone was a scarecrow and nothing made sense.

"Jon, how did you get here? Can you tell me that?" Hopefully he would answer if I was polite.

"The Batman," Jonathan widened his eyes and changed his malicious smile to a goofy one.

There was a knock on the door and I turned in the plastic chair. Gordon's face was in the small window, urging me to exit the room with his pointer finger. I gave way to a sigh and stood. Normally, when I left a room, a patient would ask me to stay, or have an outburst. But Jonathan kept quiet. Save for his mutterings about a scarecrow. Something inside me wished that Jon would have asked me to stay; but I wasn't surprised he didn't.

"Doctor, if you would come this way please," Gordon spoke when I left the room Jon sat it. The senior officer lead me to another interview room. In the room, was a table and a chair on either side. On the table sat a tape recorder; the tape drawer was open, waiting to be closed in order to start recording. Gordon motioned for me to take a seat in one of the chairs. With a small huff, I obliged. The lieutenant sat in the chair across from me and closed the tape drawer.

"Would you like anything to drink? A coffee? Water?"

"No, no thank you," I shook my head.

Gordon unbuttoned his blazer and started the tape. "For the record, could you state your name?"

"Alice Marie Burnett. M.E. in psychology, doctor at Arkham."

"How's your father, doctor?"

"Still got that limp, lieutenant. What's this all about?"

"Jonathan Crane was brought here by our friendly neighborhood vigilante. It's been revealed to us that he, an unknown partner, and roughly twenty inmates have created an impromptu labratory in the Arkham Basement. Something's been released into the water supply. Do you know what it is?"

My jaw fell to the floor. A labratory? A poison in the water? Or at least I assumed it was a poison. Now that I thought about it, it made sense for where all the inmates were going. There had been an identified pattern of missing prisoners as of late. Especially during night when they should have been in bed. "For a month or two, we've been noticing that some inmates haven't been in their beds at bed check. We figured there was a dirty security guard, letting them out at night and fixing the cameras as if nothing happened. I had no idea about anything else. And certainly not that Jon - er, Doctor Crane, was participating in criminal activies."

"Where were you tonight, Doctor? Around eightish?"

"I was at Bruce Wayne's birthday party, waiting for my friend to arrive."

"If you don't mind, I need your friend's last name so I can ask her and Mr. Wayne if you really were there."

"Oh, s-sure," The shock of Jonathan's recent activites wracked my body. "Autumn's last name is Davis. She was at Wayne's party tonight, too."

Gordon jotted down Autumn's name on a notepad and nodded skeptically. "We'll see."

The door burst open; the cause was one of Gordon's lackeys. He ran to Gordon's side and whispered in his ear. I sat back in the chair and crossed my arms. With the sharpness of a hawk's vision, I watched Gordon's eyes widen behind his glasses.

"If your friend really was at Wayne Manor, you might want to pray for her."

"I'm not a religious woman, lieutenant," I spoke softly. "But why?"

"I've just got a report that Wayne Manor was set on fire. I have to leave immediately; please, stay here and lock the door. One of my officers will stay posted infront of the door, just incase."

AUTUMN POV

One moment I was being thoroughly amused by crazed rants of a duchess of some sort, she was an elderly woman with tight skin around her perfectly structured bones. Her expressions were cartoonish and her paranoia was just well, laughable. Then a sudden wave of pure heat filled the room, soon after I was choking on the thick smoky air. For years society tries to condition people for this sort of situations, but all of those lessons go right out the window when the first flame bursts into vision.

Panic exploded into the room, the party guests ran every direction they could to make it to the exit. For some odd reason, my reaction to this was late. While everyone was in fast forward, I stood paused. I felt detached from this chaos, as if I was watching a television show.

A thick and very broad male rammed himself right into him; I spun in a wide circle, stopping when I hit the wall. A few others rushed past me. My body started to react to the heat; it was like being in the kitchen with all of the ovens on, during the hottest day in the summer in Hell.

I got myself out of the burning mansion before the fire department showed up, paramedics right on their tails. I avoided them, I felt fine and I certainly didn't want those blankets they were handing out. Without thinking, I reached for my jacket pocket for my left over cab fare; hopefully I could walk a few blocks down and just leave.

Alice was gone so there wasn't really anyone else to care about.

Just then I noticed that my body was jacketless, I had left it upstairs. It was surely burned now along with thirty dollar, a cheap cell, and my apartment key. I wondered for a second how much everyone else had lost, Bruce Wayne probably had a lot of irreplaceable items within his home.

Somehow, that thought kept me on the property, watching the flames as they started to diminish with the surge of water. But the damage was already done.

BRUCE POV

There wasn't much I could do to save my home of many years; I was pushed out before I could save anything of importance. All I could do once I was outside was watch as the fire ate like a ferocious beast, when the spirals of smoke started to rise and the flames finished their feast, I was approached by two police officers.

But only as my alter ego, Batman.

The older officer stood very professional before me, his eyes though looked tired and gave away how stressed he was. Besides him was a much younger officer, tightly clutching a pad of paper and a ball-point pen. His face was clean of wrinkles from sleepless nights, at the same time he looked both naïve and jaded.

"Mr. Wayne, sir," the younger cop said, he was being way too formal. "If you don't mind I'd like to get a statement from you."

"What sort of statement?" I asked, I wasn't trying to give him a hard time but I had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind.

"Well… What do you think happened here?" His formality and stern voice dropped, I heard the elder sigh. It was obvious that this young cop wasn't the brightest one.

"We just want to make sure that you don't need us investigating any further. You don't have any enemies do you Mr. Wayne?" His mentor asked.

"If I did, they wouldn't be at my party now would they?"

"Do you think that this was caused by foul play?"

That nagging feeling I had in the back of my mind was just that, it seemed plausible. But the last thing I needed was for the cops to go looking around at my property. I was a man of secrets, secrets that are hidden very well.

I chuckled a little bit, "hardly, it was probably just electrical. Now if you please excuse me, I have to apologize to my guests."

I nearly ran away from those two men.

I made my way through the crowd, it seemed backwards to me; here I was apologizing to people about a fire that started in my own home. No one was trying to be polite to me and try making me feel better about the situation but, I really didn't care if they had any sympathy for me.

From the corner of my eye I spotted Autumn, the shade of her red hair reminding me of the fire. She stood with her arms wrapped around her, lips pursed as if she was in deep thought. Slowly I approached her.

"Are you doing alright?" I asked. The words sounded friendly, much more heartfelt to her than it had to the others.

She turned to me and gave me a half smile, "I had no idea that you were that old Bruce."

I couldn't help but to laugh, "My dark secret has been found out." I played along.

"Promise I won't tell anyone." She placed a slender finger to her red painted lips.

A small silence appeared between us, I stood there looking at her with my hands shoved deep into my pockets. I wasn't sure what to say, this moment felt so sincere to me, for once I was not trying to fake my way through a conversation.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked, her eyebrows knotted in worry, "you're not homeless are you?"

"No, I own an apartment closer to Wayne tower." The moment that sentence left my mouth I felt ashamed, I might as well just rub my wealth in her face.

"If you lost anything valuable, I can try and replace it for you." I offered in a hurried voice, hoping to recover from my blunder.

"I don't know if you can fix a reputation, everyone is going to connect my cake to this fire now."

My head dropped, I kicked at the dirt. Autumn had a point there, it was probably the worst first impression her business could have made. Before I had time to say anything, I heard my faithful butler and complain Alfred clear his throat behind me.

"Master Wayne, I believe that you have somewhere to be."

I may have just turned thirty but Alfred will always treat me like a child, reminding me of a list of chores that I needed to complete. I turned to him and muttered to give me a few more minutes.

"Autumn, call me at my office if you need anything." I gave her a gentle smile and like a sneaky snake and well experienced playboy I moved in and kissed her lightly on the cheek. I liked this girl, genuinely.

AUTUMN POV

I watched Bruce Wayne walk away, his hands still shoved deep in his pockets, looking like an angst filled teenager. The burn of his five o clock stubble was still on my flesh as was the warm feeling of the kiss he had left as well. I couldn't tell if he did it out of habit or he was just trying to fuck with me.

I hoped he figured out I was joking about the reputation thing.

I didn't have long to think about that, because the second I turned to walk away from the scene a police officer approached me.

"Are you Autumn Davis?" He asked, his voice was scratchy like the beard on his face seemed to be. His belly loomed over his belt like a cup on the edge of a counter.

I nodded my head, where was this night going to throw at me now?

"We need you downtown for questioning." His reply was so short and stern that fear started to spread throughout my body like some sort of disease.

"I really didn't have anything to do with this fire. It's a really sad thing to happen. I honestly would have nothing to gain for doing a thing like this," I began to babble. With my fear I had lost control of my mouth.

"No, this is about one Mr. Jonathan Crane." He turned from me and started to lead me to a squad car. At least he was nice enough to open the backdoor for me.

I slid into the backseat, looking through the barrier that separated the criminals from the cops. Even if the sirens were not on and my wrists were free, I still felt as if I had broken the law somehow. Maybe, this was karmas' way of telling me that I couldn't turn my back on the rich lifestyle, and return to it, if only just for a night.

Despite my thoughts about the fire, the subject of Crane came to the forefront of my mind. Hadn't I told Alice that he was no good? What kind of trouble was he in that needed me to answer questions? It had to be something bad; Alice had given me a brief goodbye, said that she had something at Arkham to attend to.

The police cruiser took the downtown exit off the highway. I closed my eyes a bit angrily; I wished the cop behind the wheel would drive slower. The car sped around as many turns as possible. My head was already pounding from the smoke of the burning manor, I didn't welcome the churning of my stomache contents.

"What the hell is that?" The driver spoke in awe. Cautiously, I opened my eyes just as the police cruiser came to an abrupt halt. The car had stopped in a mess of other police vehicles infront of the Arkham Bridge. The bridge was drawn, and the view of the narrows was horrifying. A pale green gas surrounded the buildings, but was translucent enough to see windows and outlines of the crappy apartments.

Without a moment's hesitation, I rushed out of the car and ran to the bridge. Alice was in Arkham, conveniently located in the middle of Arkham; I couldn't leave her alone when the shit was going down. Several officers tried to hold me back and convince me that it wasn't safe to enter. My strength even amazed me when I pushed through the barricade of cops. I was ten feet away from the bridge when I was picked up by someone and carried back to the line of officers.

"Miss Davis, please, calm down," The familiar voice of Batman spoke to me. With my eyes wide, I looked up into his dark and calm ones.

"No!" I shouted. I didn't care if the vigilante was focusing on me for the moment. Alice needed me. "My best friend is in Arkham. Something's going on and I can tell Alice is going to need help."

Batman put a black gloved hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Autumn, if Alice needs help, I'll do my best."

ALICE POV

I sat in the interview room, elbow on the table and my chin in my palm. Gordon had left me in this room 10 minutes ago, talking about some fire going on at Wayne Manor. I yearned to look at the newsfeed on my cell phone but I was deep inside Arkham and signal was rare in the interview rooms. _Autumn,_ I thought, _be safe. Please._

With the sixth sigh in the last two minutes, I stood and began to pace. The thoughts of Autumn being injured in the fire teased my brain and the white walls of the room bored me. Now I knew how the inmates felt. This ten by ten room was practically suffocating, and the claustrophobic causing spaces laughed at me. What an ironic flip of the tables; I still couldn't believe I was being questioned for Jonathan's mishaps. As if I had anything to do with him anymore.

There was terrifying scream from down the hall. It sounded like a man had been stabbed a couple times. I rushed to the window in the door and saw the cops stationed infront of it leave.

"No, no no no, don't leave!" I shouted through the door. My shouts were to no avail; the room was sound-proofed and the cops were already twenty feet away. I slammed my palms on the door and shouted. Great, I was real safe now.

The words Jonathan had spat in my face reappeared in my brain: "A change of the locks can't protect you from what's going to happen."

Chills ran down my spine. Inmates began running down the hall, screaming about anarchy, rebellion, 'freedom!'. Someone had broken them out. This was not good. Not at all. I leaned against the wall where the door was, planning to keep horny psychos from seeing a vulnerable, unprotected doctor locked in an interview room.

A small gasp left my lips as the door was kicked open. Jonathan stormed into the room, a manic look on his face. I could feel my eyes get bigger than they already were. He found me standing behind the door, shaking like a leaf. The madman's icy blue eyes narrowed and a thin, evil smile grew on his face.

"Alice, how lovely to see you here," Jonathan was obviously out from under whatever influence. Someone had let him out of the room he was locked in and unbuckled his straight jacket. "There's a break out, out there. You're not safe." He began to near me, his hands felt like ice when he cupped my face. "You never should have made me leave, darling," Jonathan cooed, his lips a breath away from mine. "But don't worry, I forgive you! We can be together, and happy again. I'll protect you from the others."

A hot tear slipped down my cheek. I didn't want him to protect me. Getting back with him was definitely not an option. "Go away Jonathan. Please, if you leave now I-"

"You what?" He shouted in a sudden fit of rage. "You won't tell the cops where I went? Fat. Chance. I may have been born at night, but it was not last night, Alice!"

"Jonathan, please," I whispered, trying to melt into the walls and get away. "You're scaring me."

Something lit up in his eyes when I told him I was scared. "Scared? You're scared?" A pleased giggle came from him and for a moment, he looked away. When Jonathan looked back at me, he raised his arm. Something sprayed in my face from the sleeve of his shirt. As he giggled more, I sunk to the ground. Jonathan's image flashed back and forth from his to a sleek black snake.

"How're you feeling now, Aliccccce? Ssssssstill ssccared?" The black cobra mocked me as I began to crawl into a corner, attempting to get away from my strongest fear. I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was a low wail mixed with more salty tears.

The cobra lunged, aiming for my jugular. Defensively, I raised my hands to shield myself. He laughed when his poisonous fangs sunk into the flesh of my hands. I dropped my hands to look at my palms; the snake had only gotten one, my left. Where he had bit my palm, the wounds began to fester and slowly melt my hand away as if a drop of boric acid had been placed on my hand. I heard my heartbeat in my ears as my vision began to darken.

As I began to exit conscience, I wanted my best friend; I needed Autumn. Just before the darkness totally consumed me, I saw the snake fall to the ground. With a terrible hiss, he shot back up and flared his hood. The snake was hit again, revealing my possible savior. He seemed so familiar, but I couldn't identify him before I passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Whew. That took way too long. Sorry it did :c I was visiting a lot of family in Seattle, Washington and my oldest brother proposed to his girlfriend! :D Surprisingly she asked me to be the maid of honor. well anyway, enjoy c: disclaimer: we do not own any WB/ DC Comics materials or ideas or charatcers.**

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><p>AUTUMN POV<p>

I ignored the informality of Batman, as well as the fact he knew my name, I just glared at him. The expression on my face was similar to a stubborn teenager being told their curfew. And, like a teenager I was going to ignore this order.

As he turned to leave, his black cape sweeping the ground around his feet, those sturdy fingers lingered on my shoulder. I watched him with curious eyes as he walked right into the unpredictable darkness.

Looking around I could tell that the police force were far more concerned with the escaping inmates than what I was doing. They all stood with their guns at the ready, eyes struggling to catch any and all movement that approached them.

Slowly, I inched my way into the shadows.

I didn't get very far, within seconds two pairs of heavy footsteps were rumbling towards me and the very last line of defense. I froze, my eyes trying to see through the thick green mist. Bulky shadows danced viciously in my sight. Without a warning the shadows popped out from the darkness and came into view. An inmate with a bald head and a bold facial tattoo had his mammoth hands clutched around the throat of an officer. The man in uniform's eyes bulged, his face turning a bright fire engine red. The alyssum resident didn't notice me; he was too immersed with his urge to kill.

A loud bang cut through the silence of impending death.

My ears started to ring like church bells, my eyes were shut tight leaving my mind to only imagine what was coming from the distorted sounds I was hearing. When the ringing turned into a small whine, I let my cloudy sky colored eyes open.

The man on the ground wasn't the inmate, it was the cop. His mouth was open as he screamed silently, the deep river of blood was starting to puddle underneath his body, making the gravel shimmer. Five other officers had surrounded him; one huddled behind the rest holding his gun as if it was a decaying body part. The look on his face told me the whole story.

"We need to call for medics!"

"They have their hands full, with the fire and who knows what trouble those crazy bastards have already caused."

Bravery reared its glorious head within me, my hidden set of skills were dying to make their presence known once more. I neared the fallen man, without flinching I looked down at his contorted face. I didn't pull back when the copper scent of blood hit me as I kneeled down to examine the wound.

"Miss, please step back." A deep voice ordered, I could tell he was getting angry with me. None of them wanted an onlooker to get involved with their office politics.

"This wound is deep; he'll bleed out in a few hours if it isn't taken care of." I replied in a cold and sterile voice, my eyes were on his wound, it was a fairly large wound for a bullet. Right in the dead center of his left side, I hoped that it was stopped by a rib bone.

"Yes ma'am, we'll call for the paramedics," the same man growled. He stepped up to me, clutching my small arm in his massive hand; he dug those strong fingers into me and tried to pull me to my feet.

I spun around to face a man with light brown skin, his face was heavily wrinkled and his brow was thick and noticeable. I looked down at his nameplate and sighed, placing my bloody finger in the center of his chest.

"Officer Longoria, I can take care of this now if you can escort me into the alyssum." I glared at him, "if you take the time to what for the paramedics to arrive, you're find will be running out of much needed time."

He looked me over, a scowl on his face.

"What are you, a fucking doctor?" He muttered, pushing me back, a line of blood stained his uniform.

"Something like that," I muttered.

Without another word to me, he ordered his team to head out to the alyssum. Two officers walked besides me, while two carried their wounded partner. Officer Longoria walked a few feet ahead of us; his right-hand right on the halter for his gun.

When we reached the gates of the alyssum, it seemed that the chaos had started to die down. Batman was an efficient vigilante; by the look of things. He was standing next to Officer Gordon; they were talking in hushed voices and trying to avoid eye contact with anyone else.

But the moment he saw our heard, he turned away from the hero of the hour. His face looked grim; he took three strides and closed the gap between us.

"Ms. Davis, your friend, Alice was nowhere to be seen within the building. We have an idea that she was kidnapped by one of the inmates."

I felt him watch my face for a reaction, but I was in my doctor mode. The only thing I cared about was trying to help the dying man behind me.

"One disaster at a time please," I spoke blankly. "I need to be pointed to the infirmary." My voice came out like an order.

Gordon stood silent for a moment. "If you are injured from the fire then we will certainly see to it that you are cared for. But please, do not go into that building."

"I'm fine, but one of your own is not." I gave him a cold and dark stare; I hated being treated like I couldn't take how horrifying the world could be. Although I could only began to imagine what sort of scene was waiting for me inside.

Like any man that has gotten to know me, Gordon backed down. He turned on his heel and motioned for the pack to follow him.

From the corner of my eye, I watched as The Batman started to shrink away into the shadows once more. But, not without taking one last glance towards my direction.

I had the officer lying down on a cold metal table, I had everything I needed but the setting wasn't correct. No one seemed to care if the inmates died within here. The room was sterile but it was sparse, it lacked a heart rate monitor for one. But, it had one of the most powerful sedatives I'll ever use.

Slipping on the blue gloves, I took a deep breath. It hadn't been that long since the last time I was in a position like this, but it felt like a lifetime ago. Ten months ago I was a different person; I aimed so hard to please my family that I ignored my own dreams. I pushed my way all the way through medical school and even reached to the second year of residency that I needed. But my own selfish desires took control of me before I could become a neurosurgeon.

I took the scalpel in my hand, I made the entry wound bigger so I had more room to work with.

There was a time in my life that I did want to get involved with medicine, but for a different reason. I was more interested in cutting into a body and discovering the things within. I wanted to me a medical examiner, just like my grandfather was. In the small town I was from, he was the man you went to when there was a dead body.

I moved with muscle memory, one thing you do often as a resident doctor in a big city is bullet wounds. I stopped keeping track of how many I removed those two years. Within thirty minutes I had the thick piece of metal bullet on the table next to the still knocked out man.

I pushed back from the table, yanking the now ruby colored gloves off; I turned to the men who had been watching me in awe.

"He lost a lot of blood; he'll need to go to the hospital now." I said simply as I started to leave the room.

Gordon was once more right on my heels; he matched his stride with him as we walked down the deserted hallway. The lights above buzzed and flickered, making my vision fuzzy, I felt as if I were on some sort of drug.

"I did a little research on you; you live on the poorer side of Gotham don't you?" He asked.

"I do." I wanted to leave. I also wanted to yell at him to do something about my missing friend.

We made our way back outside, by now the sky was starting to get a little lighter, it was very early in the morning but there were still many bodies safely in their beds. Gordon and I stood at the top step, watching the hordes of cops start to leave in spurts.

Soon, it was just Gordon and I.

"We have that part of the city closed off; a lot of the inmates we haven't caught have links over there. If possible, could you find another place to return to tonight?"

I spun to face him; he had to be fucking kidding me.

"No. The only person I know in this city is missing. Is the police force in this city so terribly unorganized and unskilled to even try to keep it a safe place? You already have a man dressed up as a bat doing more than half of the work you should be doing." I snapped at him, I hoped my words stung something within him. I wanted to hurt something, I was so frustrated.

"You and every single squad are incredibly inept. I hope for the sake of innocent people, you change that." I whispered coldly, without out looking back at him I started to walk away. Soon my pace quickened, I just wanted to get far away from her.

I ran for what seemed like a good two miles, finding myself on a once rioted street. A few shop windows had been smashed, the glass scattered on the sidewalk. The only light I saw was a lone approaching car, I winced as it neared, stopping right in front of me.

The tinted window rolled down and revealed the very tired face of the very hardworking butler of Bruce Wayne; Alfred gave me a grandfatherly smile.

"It's not safe for you to be alone on the streets right now." The kindness in his voice dulled my anger at the city and the people who tried to protect it.

"I know," I answered weakly.

"I heard the news of parts of the city being closed off. You don't have a home to go to tonight do you?"

I shook my head lamely.

"I'm sure master Wayne wouldn't have a problem with you staying at the penthouse with the two of us, we have the room. And, he is very fond of you."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Alfred gave a stubborn look. He wasn't going to back down from this offer. I crossed in front of the car and climbed into the passenger seat. It might have not been proper but I had enough of the backseat for one night.

"I never thought that a simple cake order could affect my life so much." I whispered under my breath.

ALICE POV

I woke up in my bed, the cream colored popcorned ceiling greeting me eerily. How on Earth did I get here? My head ached as I sat up and the covers slipped off. With a groan, I rubbed my eyes and fell back against the pillows. I glanced over at my alarm clock, the red numbers glared into my eyes, reading 4:24 pm. I sat up again, with a gasp and snatched my phone from the nightstand. There were only two texts that I had recieved hours earlier; the first was from Jeremiah Arkham and the second from my mother.

The text from Jeremiah must have been a mass text because it had a temporary schedule. Security was to be at the Arkham all day, their seperate schedules were posted at the guard shack in front of the gates. The doctors and nurses were to arrive at 6:15 pm to allow a contractor assess the damage done by the rioting inmate.

My mother's text read that she had heard about what had happened last night, at both Arkham and Wayne Manor and was curious if I was okay. Wearily, I replied that my best friend and I were fine and not dead. Actually, I shouldn't have spoken for Autumn. We hadn't talked since I told her I had to go to Arkham. I didn't even know where she was right now. I sent one last text to Autumn, asking where she was and if she was hurt.

The tile chilled the bottoms of my feet as I stood out of bed and went to the bathroom to shower. I was soon out of my apartment, dressed for work and driving on the express way to Arkham Asylum. There was a impromptu station of police officers at the Arkham Bridge. They took about five minutes to make sure that I was infact an employee at Arkham. After the cops finally allowed me to continue going to work.

My eyes felt heavy as I dragged my feet to my office. I still had no idea how I got home from Arkham last night. I couldn't even remember what happened after Gordon left for the Wayne Manor fire. As I made my way to my office, I was stared at and given odd looks. A few asked weird questions that I couldn't even answer. Once I got to my office, I flopped into my desk chair and logged onto my computer, after which I logged onto the Arkham main frame. From there I could see what doctors were online and if I was so inclined, I could send them messages about cases. A chat box popped onto my screen; the person starting the conversation was Jeremiah Arkham.

My office. Immediately.

It felt as if my heart was falling out of my butt. What could Jeremiah want? Did I do something wrong? After logging off the computer, I exited my office, locking it, and began to make my way to Dr. Arkham's office. I began to knit my fingers; was I getting fired? Jeremiah's secretary sat at her desk, or what was left of it, and typing madly on a laptop. It appeared that several inmates had somehow broken the large oaken desk in half. As to why she was using a laptop instead of an Arkham assigned desktop, I guessed that it had been stolen. For a second, she looked up at me, typed some more and then looked back up at me.

"Dr. Arkham's still on the telephone with Mayor Garcia, but you can go in."

Thanking her, I pushed the dark wooden doors open and entered the extremely large office. Jeremiah sat at his desk, which had been untouched, probably because the doors had been locked or the police had taken Arkham back before they were broken down. The CEO of the asylum spoke in a hushed tone. While he was still speaking to the Mayor on the phone, my boss motioned for me to take a seat in one of the two chairs in front of his desk.

"Yes, of course Mayor. The mess will be fixed before your re-election campaign. You too, sir," Jeremiah slammed the phone onto it's reciever and glared at me. "Alice, what are you doing here?"

"Er, sir?" I was beyond confused.

"I sent you an email, I'm guessing you didn't read it," Jeremiah stood from his chair and went to a nook next to a bookcase and began to tinker with something that sounded like glass. He faced me with a glass of scotch, and offered it to me. I declined and he poured more scotch in the glass and took a long sip. "No matter, I'll tell you now. I've put you on a week of vacation."

"Vacation?" I repeated. "Dr. Arkham, I don't seem to understand."

"Your ex-boyfriend is responsible for destroying the Narrows and breaking a lot of dangerous criminals out of Arkham. I thought that you'd want to get away from the press or nosey co-workers."

I floundered for my next words. "But I haven't been talked to by anyone in the press..."

"Yet," Jeremiah added more scotch to his glass, which he had barely taken two drinks from. "Newspaper journalists and tv journalists can be some weasely people. You should go somewhere before they can make a mess of your life and a bigger mess of Arkham."

I sat at the kitchen table, two bowls infront of me. One was filled with fresh green beans, just plucked from the garden, and another bowl with a few cleaned and snapped beans in it. The radio was on, soft music from the fifties playing. Right now, my daughter's favorite song was on, Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley. I pondered how she was doing in the big city. And of course, I wondered how her best friend was doing.

Autumn and my Alice had been best friends since birth. Abigail, Autumn's mother, and I had been friends since we were in elementary. We had gone to the same college, were bridesmaids at each other's weddings, concieved around the same time, and were godmother's to each other's daughter. Of course, Ethan had wanted a son, but when that little girl was born just a few months after Alice, Ethan had been more maternal than his wife.

My thoughts began to sour; thinking about Abby and what all happened put me in a bad mood. Right around third grade, Autumn had gone to the principle because she had pushed a boy who had been teasing Alice about something. Naturally, Abby went crazy; in her mind, Autumn shouldn't have ever gone to public school. Only ruffians and poor people went to public school. Ethan and William, my husband, tried to convince Abby that Autumn had stuck up for her friend and that private school and a psychologist was an over exajuration of the solution. I couldn't take Abby's snobbery any longer.

She had come to visit for lunch one afternoon the summer before the girls fourth grade year. Alice and Autumn were playing in the playroom, my seven year old son was with his father and Ethan, and my newborn twin girls snoozed in their crib. Abby had made some snooty comment about the state of my home and I couldn't stop myself. I yelled. And screamed. Although Abby and I were no longer civil, I was glad that it didn't stop our girls and husbands from being friends.

"Hey, momma!" Someone called from the foyer in the front of the house. After cleaning my hands on a dry towel I got up from my chair and went to the front door. There sood Alice and Autumn, two suitcases sat on the cracked and aged tile. Autumn had probably been the one to call to me; Alice seemed to be tired and troubled.

"Girls," I smiled, throwing my arms open to embrace them both. "What a surprise! What're you doing here? Gotham's more than an eight hour drive away."

Alice mumbled something and took the two suitcases to the room her and Autumn typically used when they came to visit. "Nevermind her, Judith," Autumn smiled. "She's had a rough week."

"Well, I saw the thing with Wayne Manor and Arkham on the news, but that happened a day or two ago. What else could be going on?" I asked, leading my surrogate daughter to the kitchen. Autumn gave me a crooked smile, like she had some juicy gossip on her mind.

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><p><strong>Hope you guys liked it c: and until we can post again, review, enjoy, and thank you for reading c:<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry this took so long! My loverly bestie and I have been rather busy, what not with her schooling and my moving to Washington :P Anywho, if you'd like to follow Brenda, her penname is Breminey. She doesn't have anything posted at the moment, but I believe she's working on it :] Haha alright, to the story! Enjoy. It's a long one!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Six <strong>

AUTUMN POV

My other mother and I sat down at the kitchen table; the wood was fading and showing off its age. It had been in this house probably longer than I had been friends with Alice. I ran my finger along the chipped tabletop; a lot of memories of family dinners were resting here.

Those vivid memories were something I didn't have at my own childhood home.

"You look like you had an interesting weekend, are you going to tell me what happened?" Alice's mother asked with a soft and warm smile on her pale pink lips. The look she gave me made me feel like one of her own.

I nodded my head; these past two days had been very colorful to say the least…

TWO DAYS EARLIER

I walked a few feet behind Alfred, hugging my arms tight to my chest as the high blast from central air hit me. The lobby of the apartment building looked like a five star hotel. The young woman at the front desk smiled at us, she seemed wide-awake even though it was well into the night. Alfred waved and headed to the elevator.

My presence was never questioned. Did Bruce Wayne always have girls heading into his penthouse late at night? Feeling like an escort I rushed into the elevator, I really wished I still had my leather jacket.

We rode to the very top of the building, all sixteen floors of it. I still hung a few feet behind, shuffling into the dark apartment. The moon shone in from the large window that looked over the city like a watchtower, the silver flashlight was just enough to aid me into the spacious living room.

"Master Wayne should be asleep by now, so let's be quiet. I'll show you to your room."

Like an idiot I nodded, my attention shifting all around the room. I was curious about this place, I wanted to explore but I didn't want to over stay my welcome.

Alfred led me to a room at the end of the hall; he flicked the light on with a smile. "It's the smallest guest room, I reside in the other, and I hope you don't mind."

I looked around the room, with a king sleigh bed and two large dressers, I couldn't use the word small. It even had its own flat screen on the wall. Suddenly my apartment looked like a tent in comparison.

"I'm sure that this room is bigger than my entire apartment." I muttered under my breath, I wandered into the middle of the room. I caught my eye in a full-length mirror; my face was covered in dirt, eyeliner and mascara had started to streak down my face. I looked like a hot mess.

"There is a bathroom right behind the door to your right," He said as he handed me a dark grey shirt and a pair of men's basketball shorts. He must have left while I was admiring myself. "I grabbed these from Bruce's room; I hope it doesn't bother you. You can leave your clothes out and I'll wash them in the morning."

This man's kindness was endless; it surprised me but also warmed my heart. I gave him a goofy smile, the kind I gave when I didn't have anything to say. I just mumbled a thank you.

"Goodnight Ms. Davis." He said as he gracefully backed out of the room.

I looked down at the clothes in my hands; already I can smell the spicy scent of Bruce Wayne. My heart gave a little pitter-patter of excitement; it had been a long time since I had dated anyone. It wasn't that I had a thing for Bruce; I just missed men in general.

My wet hair was sticking to the fabric of the shirt. The cotton garment was long enough to cover me to my knees, so I ignored the shorts. I sat in the middle of the bed, hugging my knees to my chest, looking out the window. The moon mesmerized me.

The door creaked slowly creaked open, the sound sent shivers down my spine. Irrational fear started to build in my throat; I fought to scream at the imaginary monster.

BRUCE POV

Autumn's figure in my shirt and bathed in the sliver moonlight was enough to make me do a double take, it was an eerie beauty that I've never seen before. She stared at me, I could barely make out her face but I could see the questioning look in her eye.

"I hope you don't mind that I'm staying here," she whispered.

I crossed the room and sat beside her on the bed, the warmth of her body sent a jolt down my body. There was something about her wearing my shirt and nothing else that just drove me crazy. Part of me wanted to become Bruce Wayne the ultimate playboy and get her to sleep with me.

But, there was a smaller part, one that wanted to make her mine. I knew I couldn't settle down with anyone, living the life I did. It didn't mean that I hardly thought about it. Either way, I had a deep attraction for this woman; I had a desire to take care of her.

"It's not a problem." I whispered, fighting the urge to lean in closer. "I have enough space."

I laid down on the bed, resting my hands underneath my head, my eyes halfway closing. My mind started to play a scene in my head that was bluntly sexual. I closed my eyes completely; maybe if I thought about it enough it would happen.

"If you're tired, maybe you should go to bed." Autumn said as I felt the bed move, cracking an eye open I saw that she had laid down next to me balancing on one arm.

"I'm in a bed aren't I?" I teased, smirking at her.

"Smart ass," she replied with a slight smile. "Your own bed is what I meant."

I gave her a bigger grin, "I bought this bed, this is my place, and I'm in MY bed."

Autumn gave me a playful but angry look, "I'm sure teachers just loved you as a child."

"Well everyone loves me," I said as I gave her a wink.

Even with the dim light, I could see the soft blush spreading across her face. I was starting to feel devious.

"What would you do if I were to kiss you right now?" I asked, moving my face closer to hers.

"I, um… I would…" She struggled to reply, her eyes dancing around the room. The scarlet in her face was starting to spread like a disease.

"I bet you would kiss me back." My grin started to widen, I reached out at placed my palm on her cheek, turning her gaze back to me.

"What makes you so sure?" She whispered. Her voice was strained; I could tell that she was trying to fight something. Either she wanted to slap me or she actually wanted to kiss me.

"I can prove it," my thumb started to stoke her lower lip. Even if I was playing it cool, my heart was starting to hammer in my chest. I could easily just lower my face down and kiss her. It would be a piece of cake.

The temptation was too great.

"Bruce… I barely know you." Autumn whispered, her lips moved beneath my thumb.

I pulled back from her, in was obvious that I was making her uncomfortable. Clearing my throat I rolled off of the bed, my feet made a gentle thud onto the carpet.

"Well then, how about we get lunch tomorrow? I can easily step out of the office for you. You can get to know me then." I paused as I got to the door; looking over my shoulder I gave Autumn a gentle smile.

"Sleep well," I purred.

I drove my sleek black car easily through the streets of Gotham; last night's events left the city scared to be out and about even in the daylight hours. So today traffic seemed to be a thing of the past. The radio was on; soft music was drowning out the sound of my car in motion. I couldn't help but to feel a little jittery.

I hadn't felt nervous around a woman in a while.

I pulled up to Autumn's bakery, not bothering to kill the engine; I stepped out of the car. The shop looked deserted; I hoped that business would pick up just a little bit after my birthday party. I slid into the small pastel shop; my red headed date was nowhere to be found.

"Anyone here?" I shouted, stepping closer to the counter, trying to peek into the kitchen. I started to worry that maybe she stood me up, or worse, those thugs from the first night I met her were back.

"One second Bruce," I heard her voice echo out from the bowels of the kitchen.

My heart started to relax in my chest.

Autumn emerged from the back, smiling sweetly. Her red hair was down and curly, hugging her shoulders like a draped blanket. She wore super skinny jeans, her legs looked so frail, her polka dot blouse reminded me of the 1950's. She grabbed a set of keys from off a hook on the wall, her eyes on me the entire time. I felt my face getting hot; did I have something on my face? Was my fly down?

"Why are you staring at me?" I asked, hoping she would tell me if there was something wrong.

She laughed a little bit, "two reasons. One, you're really nice to look at, and two, I caught you staring at my ass."

Unable to even consider a slick comeback I motioned to the door, holding it open for her. I had a big bag of tricks but none that I wanted to pull out for this girl. I wanted things to feel natural, rather than me just toying with a woman.

AUTUMN POV

I walked down the street to work with a smile on my face, everything this morning seemed to be going swell. The weather was perfect, I felt rested, even the crowd of people were delightful.

The lunch I had with Bruce the other day had very well, better than I expected. We got along surprisingly very well; both of us were secretly very well individuals. I got a total kick out of his expression when I shared my medical school past. If luck played it's cards right, maybe this random happenstance could progress into something more.

Something caught my eye, a newsstand I never really cared about before. But today, there was a red flag waving in my vision. My mouth started to fall open as I neared the stand. In a perfect field of vision was a popular gossip magazine. Plastered on the cover was a perfect shot of Bruce and I walking to his car, his arm draped around my shoulders.

The headline read, "New Romantic Interest For Gotham's Playboy."

"Oh fuck me." I muttered under my breath, grabbing all of the magazines off the stand I made sure the owner wasn't looking as I tossed them into the gutter. I sped off to my bakery, pulling my cell phone out of my purse in record speed.

PRESENT DAY.

"So, are you really dating Bruce Wayne?" My other mother asked, leaning over the table. Excitement filled her eyes.

I laid my head down in my palm, "I really don't think we are. He called me a few hours ago when I was driving, but I haven't bothered to call him back."

"Call who back?" Alice asked as she sat herself down at the table, "your new boyfriend?"

I gave my best friend my best slanted-eye glare.

ALICE POV

I giggled and sat next to my best friend.

"Got her talking about Bruce, didn't you?" I asked and began to help my mother with snapping the green beans.

"At least someone talks to me." My mother grumbled. I rolled my eyes, waiting to hear more. "But I guess you're too busy being moody and a doctor."

"I'm sure Autumn's told you why I was being less than gracious," I spoke, avoiding my mother's eye contact.

"No," Autumn shook her head. "I was just getting to it when you walked in."

Silence blanketed the three of us, save for the snapping of the green beans. Autumn began to pick at her split ends and my mother glared at me every chance she got. Preparing the beans was beginning to bore me and my mother's prying eyes were starting to piss me off.

"Jonathan and I broke up."

I caved. I gave my mother the information she had so desperately desired to know. But I could tell she wanted more. Her hands hovered over the bowl of unsnapped beans, her green eye boring holes through my skin. I knew she wasn't going to be happy about my break up.

"Why." She wasn't asking to know why, she was demanding. I was imagining that she was thoroughly upset that I wasn't with her favorite of my boyfriends.

"'Cause he's a fucking psycho," I uttered. Autumn nearly choked as she tried to hide her laughter.

"Alice Marie!" My mother gasped. I hadn't been home in a while, and I certainly hadn't ever cursed in front of my mother. I'm sure my cursing and recent break up shocked her to her core. "He's a doctor! He could keep you financially stable-"

"He lived in the Narrows," Autumn spoke for me. "Crane couldn't even keep track of his own money."

"And he punched out the locksmith. Can you say anger problems?" I quipped.

My mother's face went blank. "Lived," she repeated. "What do you mean 'lived'?" Autumn looked at each other and shared a sigh.

"Jon kind of broke out 85% of Arkham's most dangerous criminals."

Mother's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "He did what! When? How? Why hasn't any of this been on the news?"

"It's a PR thing, mom," I shrugged. "Jeremiah doesn't need the reputation of not only a faulty security system, but of corrupt doctors under his employment."

"Alice, you're avoiding my other questions."

Again, Autumn and I looked at each other. With all my mother's questions, tonight was going to last forever. And with the inevitable day or two at the Davis' was going to last way too long. In general, this was going to be a long week.

"When's dad getting home?"

"He should be home soon. He went to get the twins for spring break." My mother answered.

I couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Do you really think two 19 year old girls are going to want to spend the week in Pleasant Ville?"

"Speaking of the twins," My mother continued to snap beans. It seemed as if she totally forgot everything about Jon and the Arkham break out. "I do remember you saying that you had two empty rooms in your apartment, right?"

I looked at my mother strangely and Autumn did too. "Yes, why?"

"Well, they're transferring to Gotham University and they need a place to live. Your sisters have gotten full scholarships to the university and your father and I are willing to pay rent for them. That is if you're willing to let them stay."

I could feel my heart fall and disappointment took its place.

"But, I was going to ask Autumn to move in with me since she can afford the rent now that her business has taken off..."

* * *

><p>SIX MONTHS LATER<p>

JOKER POV

I stood on the corner of a street, waiting for my ride. A black duffel bag was slung over my right shoulder and I gripped a latex clown mask in my left hand. I hung my head, the long hair on my head hiding the face paint and keeping the sun out of my eyes. The sun beat down on my shoulders, making the suit hotter than it normally was. Just as I started getting disgusted with the sweat under my arms, the unprimed black GMC Suburban screeched to a halt in front of me. Before climbing into the truck, I slipped the mask over my face.

The air conditioning of the vehicle welcomed me, cooling my face, which hid behind the mask. Although, the cool air did somewhat smell like a wet dog had sat in the car. Two goons, one in the driver's seat, the other sitting next to him, greeted me as well. I had given them code names, Grumpy and Chuckles. There were two others who I had named as well. Little did the other four know that I was in fact the Joker, and not just another expendable goon code-named Dopey.

"Three of a kind," Grumpy spoke from the drivers side. He drove quickly, but calmly. It was probably a good idea to do so. Getting pulled over by a cop was not an option. "Let's do this."

"That's it?" Chuckles scoffed as I loaded my pistol. "Three guys?"

Grumpy took a right turn. "Two guys on the roof. Every guy gets a share. Five shares are plenty."

I peered out of the window, listening to their conversation. My nerves were going crazy; I hadn't attempted stealing from a bank of this caliber yet. A mob bank nonetheless. I kind of wanted a cigarette. I wondered if this was how tigers at the zoo felt. Caged, angry, and beneath all the fuzzy fur and pouty eyes, a fearsome creature.

"Six shares," Chuckles corrected our driver. "Don't forget the guy who planned the job."

"He thinks he can sit it out and still take a slice." Grumpy grumbled and looked out his window. "I know why they call him the Joker."

It was difficult to not howl with laughter or blow Grumpy's brains out the front of his skull. I was irritated that they were not only insulting me, but were doing so right in front of me. Nevertheless, neither knew I was the Boss. Still, which was more appropriate? Laughing like a maniac or extreme random violence? Deciding both would give away I was the Joker, and we happened to need Grumpy's services, I kept silent.

"This one's quiet, ain't he?" Chuckles spoke, using his thumb to point to me.

A malicious smile grew behind my mask. If only they knew, if only...

AUTUM POV

The scent of coffee started to fill the room as the machine began to press and grind the beans, the sounds of the city dance around my kitchen like specters. I was slowly starting to find some affection for Gotham City. Pulling myself onto the black counter and onto the windowsill let the sun caress my face.

The last six months had just flown by so quickly, my business started booming (yes even in this economy), and before I knew it I had enough money not only to relocate the bakery but also move out of that cramped apartment. Even a few of my student loans from both Medical School and Culinary School were starting to vanish. I smiled to myself as I thought about all of this newfound luck; it was an incredibly satisfying feeling to have proved my parents wrong.

One of the only things I was still trying to adjust to, even now I had trouble wrapping my mind around it, was that I was still seeing Bruce Wayne. But as this point, we still haven't discussed if we were an actual couple or just dating. I've spent weekends with him, a little more than that, but still the conversation hadn't happened yet.

I felt like I was trapped in some sort of romantic limbo.

The coffee machine stopped, I slid off from my perch and filled a tall thermos up to the brim with the dark liquid. Side stepping a few boxes that I still hadn't made time to unpack, I zipped out of the door hoping that none of the people I planned to interview today would be there before me.

How awful would that look? Oh hello, I'm your boss and I'm incredibly late.

A few hours later I was getting close to killing someone without any mercy, all of my hopeful applicants didn't meet any of my qualifications. A good handful of them didn't even have any education. Already I was starting to get curt with them, I felt sorry for the next person I had to interview, and they were probably going to end up crying. They were already crossed off my list for the job; right now I was just looking for someone to let my anger out.

Poor soul doesn't even stand a goddamn chance.

My phone beeped and buzzed besides me, the message displayed made a small giggle escape from my lips.

At the bank and I'm about ready to kill someone.

It was nice to know that Alice was in a similar situation. Before I could reply I heard the door whoosh open, I almost starting to plan out what I was going to say to this person.

My plan quickly dissolved when I saw Bruce stride in like he owned the place, even after six months he was still trying to impress me. It flattered me more than it annoyed me, so I let it slide.

"Hire anyone yet?" He asked as he eased into the chair across from me, lounging out so that his feet started to bump into mine. One of his hands snaked along the table and coiled over mine.

"No, everyone sucks." I whispered, "I might as well just keep running this place by myself."

He gave me a long look, worry started to seep into his brow. "Last month though you were so busy you almost starting living at the bakery. Besides, how am I going to see you if you are always working," he asked as he brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it.

Gestures like that always confused me the most, it was so endearing. Often times he seemed to play the role of a perfect boyfriend but then he'd turn around and break plans within a heartbeat.

"Well how about this, why don't you come and work for me?" I teased, slowly pulling my hand away. For a split second he tried to recover it.

He gave me a soft laugh before lapsing into silence, this silence pressured me to just burst out and ask what the fuck were we? I'd take any answer really; I like a lot of women, needed to have a clear definition of what I was involved in.

"Are you busy tonight?" Bruce asked, his voice sounded like he had just come to some sort of conclusion.

"No, not at all." I answered, wandering if he finally noticed the long and questioning looks I've been giving him.

"I'll pick you up at your place at eight; we'll go out tonight okay?" He said as he stood, glancing at his. "I need to get going; I can only dodge a business meeting for so long." Leaning over the table he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, his already growing five o clock shadow felt like sandpaper as it brushed against my face.

ALICE POV

This is why I've always hated going to the bank. There always seemed to be someone who couldn't speak English, an old person who forgot their ID or pin number, or only two tellers for half of Gotham's population that was at the bank that day. And it was always the day I was at the damn bank. I could remember being dragged to the bank as a child and throwing fits because I didn't want to go to "the place that takes too long."

My mother or father would always tell me that banks were necessary establishments and one day I'd have to use them too. The bank is probably were my impatience with all lines came from. I let out a drawn out sigh, there were only three tellers on right now, all of which seemed to be the type of girls that barely graduated from High School. I wish someone would just shoot me right now.

I was finally at the head of the line; all three of the teller's windows had someone, so it was just a matter of who would leave first. Suddenly, at the same time, the two customers on the right of me left. I took a few steps forward, heading towards the left, but the teller looked at me right as she put up the 'this window is closed sign.'

"No problem," I whispered to myself as I half turned to face the other window. Which now was taunting me with the exact same sign, I felt somewhere in my body, my soul slowly starting to die. And the person in front of me was spewing out questions like vomit.

I buried my face into my hand; all I wanted was the bank to take my money.

A sudden popping sound hit the air, my spin shivered and I jerked my head towards it. My heart rose into my throat and rested there, probably hoping to crawl out of my body before anything bad happen.

The sound got closer and closer, soon it was in my ears like a roaring waterfall.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN." A man shouted, brandishing his gun around as if it was weightless, meaningless, a mere toy that young boys played with.

People screamed as the scurried under the tables, pretty soon all of the cover was taken and I found myself slowly lowering myself against the counter, holding my knees tightly to my chest, hugging them like I used to as a child when I was really upset. I rested my chin on my knees, fighting myself to close my eyes. But, I watched as the two men started to walk around the room; the silent one was just a few feet away from me. His eyes behind his mask flickered from me to the other guy.

By now my ears were ringing from the gunshots, it was impossible for me to make out anything that was being said. But I had the perfect view of the first man being shot. His body didn't bounce like they do in the movies; it fell like a dead weight to the ground.

I was close enough to them that when the large yellow school bus crashed into the bank, the rubble covered me from head to toe. It coated my tongue and made me cough; I did my best to suppress it, blinking fiercely I saved myself the lasting vision of one of the men being knocked back from the bus.

By the time I opened my eyes, the last man standing had taken off his mask. His face was painted white; red was streaked across his lips like clowns lipstick, and his eyes were blacked out like a raccoon's. For some reason I couldn't take my eyes off of him, he was like some dangerous animal, so intriguing but if you got too close; you'd regret it.

Just before he climbed into the school bus to make his getaway, our eyes met. His face filled my vision, that painted and scared smile was going to be something I was going to be thinking about for a very long time. By the time he had driven off, camouflaged by the herd of other buses, the police sirens were in the air and approaching the bank. The cops came in, guns unholstered, pointed at the enemy that wasn't there anymore. A cop rushed to me, making sure I didn't have a live grenade in my hand like the others did.

"Miss, are you alright?" He asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Yes," I spoke softly. "I'm fine. You should probably take care of those people who have live mines in their hands."

The officer nodded and went to where the other cops were trying to calm the hostages down. I stood, holding my forehead with one hand and returning my cell phone to my purse. In a daze, I walked to the front doors of the bank. Only narrowly I avoided the police as I made my way to my vehicle. Sitting in the driver's side of the car, I still felt like I was in a haze.

It was strange. The look the man with the face paint had given me…it was somewhat chilling, yet oddly I was okay with it. Once he took off the mask, I could see that he had beautiful brown eyes. They burned an image in my brain something I couldn't quite describe. However, I knew that they were probably the only beautiful things about a man who stole from the bank, killed him comrades, and frightened people with live grenades. Shaking the adrenaline shakes away; I started my car and headed home.

AUTUMN POV

Looking myself over in the mirror one last time, I decided I looked perfect. I had to thank Alice for the dress, though. It was a magnificent fuchsia taffeta knee length gown with a plunging neckline. I couldn't help but feel like my boobs were going to fall out at any moment. The expensive heels that I wore had been a gift from Bruce though and went perfectly with the dress.

My make up had been tediously done while my hair had been relatively easy to take care of. Finally deciding that standing in front of the mirror wasn't going to do anything else, I left the bedroom and headed for the foyer of my new apartment. Every sound I heard was Bruce at the door, but when I went to look at the peephole there was no one there. With a groan, I went to the kitchen for a glass of water and two ibuprofen pills.

Just as I swallowed the pills and put the glass in the dishwasher, there was a strong knock on the door. Running like Peg Bundy to the door, I opened it to see Bruce in a very expensive suit. A wide grin sat on his face and a delicate bouquet of lilies was gripped in his hand.

"You look great, Autumn." He said softly while handing the flowers to me.

"Thank you, Bruce." I took the flowers and set them on a counter in the kitchen. "Let's get going, shall we?"

Bruce took me to an exceedingly expensive restaurant. The way I could tell it was way out of my budget was that there were no prices after each meal on the menu. I couldn't help but feel really bad about choosing something to eat although he could buy whatever he wanted. There was something wrong with Bruce. Although he acted like usual, I could tell there was something wrong.

It was quite obvious that there was something on his mind. I dared to ask, but I knew when things shouldn't be asked. And this was one of those times. Shaking my weird feelings away, I perked up and finished my lobster. After dessert, I followed Bruce to his car, a shiny gray Lamborghini. I couldn't help but blush as he held my hand as we headed out and everyone watched. Secretly, I felt like a starlet who everyone aspired to be famous.

The ride on the way back to my apartment was oddly silent. Maybe there really was something wrong. I thought of different ways to word my question to find out if everything was all right. Normally, I would say, "What the fuck is wrong? You seem tense." But this was Bruce Wayne, the most popular man in the world, the richest man on the planet. Asking him that way just wasn't right.

The Italian car stopped in front of the apartment building. Bruce shut it off and quickly got out, going to my side and opening the vertical door. He gave me his hand to help me out of the car. Bruce shut the car door and followed me up the stoop of the building. I purposely fiddled with my keys; I was waiting for him to just kiss me. It was a foolish idea, sure, but I couldn't help but be totally infatuated with him.

"Hey, Autumn, can I talk to you about something really quick?" He asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his slacks.

"Sure," I nodded. "Is everything alright?"

Bruce nodded. "Yes…no. Listen, I've been really busy with work lately and in my line of business, I tend to make decisions that may upset certain people. And those certain people may try to find ways to make me change my mind. That means they may be willing to stoop so low to hurt those who are close to me. So, when I say this, it's because I don't want you hurt. Autumn, I can see you anymore."

JOKER POV

The high resolution of my stolen MacBook Pro dried my eyes out as I clicked and scrolled, trying to find what I was looking for. Typing the information one of my goons had gotten for me into the search engine, I waited for the slow Internet to load the information. I had been quite surprised to find that the laptop had been able to connect to a router so far away from the city. Not to mention the fools had left it unprotected by not setting up a password. _Idiots_, I sneered. Finally, the page loaded and I clicked on what interested me.

Her eyes were a forest green and hair a deep brown, almost black. The picture on her social networking page showed her curves and a curving smiled played on her lips. She wore a shimmering green silk strapless dress. The caption under the picture said "Arkham Christmas Ball." She was pretty; there was no denying that.

Alice Burnette, eh? I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw her occupation: resident psychologist at Arkham Asylum. Her interests were reading and drawing. There was no mentioning of a significant other and little mentioning of family. Maybe this doctor will come in handy. Perhaps actually taking a hostage with some form of intelligence would keep my tied over between projects. I was quite bored with trying to have some kind of mind-bending conversation with the morons I hired.

"Are you ready, Doctor? I'm just dying to see what makes you tick!"

* * *

><p><strong>Breminy and I do not own any Warner Bros., Nolan Brother's, or DC Comics character, materials, or scripts. Thanks for reading guys. Please please please review! And even if you don't, favoriting, subscribing, and telling your fanfic friends about the story would be sweet. Until later...da na na na na na na na na na - BATMAN!<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Made an oopsie updating this before. Breminy realized I had jumped a chapter ahead...anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

AUTUMN POV

I stared at Bruce for a while, trying to comprehend what exactly he had just said to me. It didn't make a lot of sense, why would he take me out to dinner when he was going to break up with me? But, as the reality started to set in, it was a heavy weight on my chest and sinking down into my heart; I started to feel like an idiot.

It was foolish of me to even think that this would work out between us.

Pressing my back against the door I managed to somehow meet his eyes, the sting and prickle of incoming tears made my vision hazy. I pursed my lips tightly, the lipstick staining them acting like glue.

"I can understand that." My words were breathless, to me my voice thundered in my ears but against the city it was just a mouse like whisper.

Bruce reached out and clasped my shoulder in his hand; he squeezed it in hopes to comfort me. But now… Now, his touch was something I wanted to shy away from. It was like he was teasing me with something I couldn't have? I forced myself to be polite and sweet, to not brush his hand off like a bug.

Oh what's that Autumn? You find me irresistible? I'm just going to prove that you won't ever be able to have me.

"Autumn, please. I didn't want to upset you; I just want to keep you safe."

I bit back all of the venomous words that were building up in the back of my throat like bile, I could have spat it out on him but I swallowed it down.

"You should get going." I said weakly as I opened the door to my apartment, giving a half hearted wave I stepped into the darkness and shut the door behind me. I didn't bother to turn on any lights as I tossed off those expensive shoes or when I tossed those flowers in the trash.

I walked in total darkness as I stripped down to my underwear and crawled under the covers, despite the already warm air and thick blankets my body still felt cold and clammy. Burrowing my face into the pillow, I shut my eyes as tight as I could. No tears would escape these blue eyes of mine.

No wonder they called it a crush, that's exactly what happens when you realize that it will never be.

ALICE POV

I balanced my phone between my cheek and shoulder as I managed to lock my office door. The other end rang twice before Autumn picked up. I had been trying to reach her all day.

"Where have you been?" I asked, I let a small amount of frustration from my day seep into my voice. Spending a whole day trying to work with one patient who refused or lacked the understanding of being corporative could start to really eat at someone.

"I've been working," she replied. Sure enough I could hear the clatter of pans in the back ground, "I still haven't found anyone to work with."

It had already been a few weeks since her new bakery opened and she was running it by herself. It had been even longer since Bruce called it quits in their small relationship.

"Do you want to go out tonight? It won't take me long to get to your place from the office."

Autumn sighed, "I don't want to. I just want to go home and listen to The Cure or something…"

"You're going to have to get over this. It wasn't even all that serious."

"I am over that, I'm not over the fact I sold my soul to sweets."

"Well, I'll call you tomorrow. But I will warn you, we will go out this week."

I slid my finger across the screen of my phone to end the car. By now I was heading for the parking garage, already the flickering yellow lights were starting to give me a headache.

CRIMINAL POV

The Joker was a brilliant man. He had managed to have someone track down the master key of the exact model of car his target drove; I spun the key around my boney finger as I made my way towards the black vehicle. Within moments I had the car unlocked and the hood popped.

Leaning over the cool engine, I help the sharp clippers in my hand. I had no idea what I was doing and the wooly mask on my face wasn't helping me see. Blindly, I clipped a few wires and cut some cords. Just as I slammed the hood shut, the echoes of approaching heels started to head my way. With my heart beating like a humming bird's wings, I ducked down into the small shadows and crept behind a large SUV.

The figure of a woman, slender and but curvy, appeared in my vision. She was heading towards the BMW. What would Joker want with a woman?

ALICE POV

I turned the key in the ignition, nothing. Not even a groan, moan, or struggle. I tried this three more times before I smacked my hand on the wheel. Cursing under my breath I hopped out of the car and started to head for the street; the only thing I cared about was making it home. I wasn't going to bother with towing the car until tomorrow morning.

The subway trains in Gotham during the night are one of the places people tried to avoid at all costs, unless you wanted to score drugs. The train I was on was filled with sleep deprived college students, druggies, and the homeless. I was stuck sitting in the very back, a few inches away from a very hairy man who smelt very rank.

I did my best to breathe through my mouth for the entire ride.

The subway came to a screeching halt, the intercom clicked on overheard and the driver made an announcement.

"Sorry folks, this is the end of the line for this train, you're going to have to transfer if you need to get somewhere else. I apologize for the inconvenience." The driver's voice was stoic and cold, he really didn't care that his riders had to find another way home.

Luckily for me, this was my stop.

I was just a block and a half away from my apartment when suddenly, heavy footsteps started to approach me. Frightened, I quickened my pace and lowered my head, burning holes into the sidewalk. As I power walked the person behind me sped up, I could almost feel the presence bearing down on me like a looming tower.

Gulping audibly, I tried to work up the courage to yell at them to quit this sick game. I slowed down, preparing to spin around and shout. When I finally did turn around, just a few fet from the stoop of my building, there was no one behind me. I took a quick survey of the surrounding land. The street was empty and desolate. A few newspapers fluttered in the breeze that was chilling my legs. Frowning, I began to turn around to head into the warmth of the apartment complex.

"Good _evening_, Doctor," The man with the painted face from the bank greeted me, making me jump about two inches off the ground. Doctor? My eyes widened. He knew me, obviously by my profession. But how? Just from an off cast glance at the bank he found out who I was? Instead of his cheap, dark violet suit from the bank, he wore a very expensive looking royal purple suit. The tails of his jacket fell to his calves. Underneath the jacket was a green vest, a blue patterned shirt, and an oddly patterned tie. On his right side was a long pocketchain. I assumed for a pocket watch. "It's a little late for a woman to be walking home alone, eh?"

I struggled to find my voice. He loomed over me although I wore five inch heels. "I can handle myself," I gulped.

"Oh, can you? Have you ever tested that out?" He asked. Ask he took a step torward to me, I took another step back. Further from the safe haven that was my expensive apartment. "See, you live in the expensive and most protected region of Gotham. You drive where ever you go. Even when you were growing up, you never needed to use any kind of self defense."

I was done, I didn't want to hear this anymore. I wracked my brain trying to quickly figure out who's apartment I could easily run to in five inch heels. My hair swirled as I spun around again to take flight. when I took my first long stride of escape, I ran into something. More like someone. When I backed away, I looked up and saw another man, this one in a latex clown mask like the ones from the bank. He stepped towards me and I moved back towards the Man with the Painted Face. On both my right and left two others swooped in and blocked my other ways of escape. They, too, had clown masks on. Surrounded and out numbered. I was certain that if I was a small child, I would have soiled myself.

"You have two choices, Doctor Burnette," The Man with the Painted Face spoke again. "Come with us the easy way or the hard way. The easy way, of course, is getting in my lovely van and avoiding injury to yourself or my men. The hard way is your fighting back and us forcibly taking you to the van."

Looking around at the four men, I ran through my choices. If I tried to escape, there was a very, _very_, high chance I wouldn't get past anyone and I probably would get hurt. Somehow, if I did make it out without at least bleeding, I wouldn't be able to get far. Four men versus one woman in heels; not odds I'd like to face. Going into their van meant there was a considerably less chance of me getting hurt. Of course, my mind raced as I thought about what they were going to do with me _after_ I got into the van.

I gulped and sighed. There was no other choice. "Alright, I'll go."

From behind me, I heard a small "hmn," as I was spun around to face the Man with the Painted Face. His brown eyes looked me over, a slight sneer settled onto his face. I wondered what it meant. Raising a purple-leather gloved hand, he motioned toward the street. I could hear the sound of a car approaching, the brakes complaining as the van halted next to the curb. One of the thugs opened the sliding door, and pushed me into the blacked out Ford Aerostar. I fell to the floor of the van, recieving an annoying raspberry on my knees from the rough carpet.

"Hey, when have I ever instructed you to treat hostages that way?" The Man with the Painted face snapped, assumably at the one who shoved me. I wasn't paying a lot of attention; I was too busy trying to keep my pencil skirt where it was supposed to be and not showing off my underwear.

"We've never taken hostages, Boss," The grunt mumbled, twiddling his thumbs.

I watched as the boss pursed his lips and dug around in his jackt pocket. He retrieved a butterfly knife and, like a professional, swung it around to reveal the blade. "Gettin' _smart_ with me?"

The thug's eyes widened. "N-no, Boss!"

Boss put the knife away, refolding the blade into the handle, and got into the van. And of course, he sat next to me. His scent was that of coffee mixed with a spicy blend of perhaps cologne. However, I somewhat doubted a man who painted his face would be using expensive cologne. I couldn't help my natural instinct to make myself as small as possible by pressing myself to the other side of the Aerostar as the sliding door closed and the driver rocketted off. I wish I had when the Man with the Painted Face looked over at me.

"Scared?" Was all he asked. I didn't dare dignify him by answering. "Don't worry, I'd be frightened too. It's not everyday a pretty woman such as yourself is captured by the Joker. So willingly, too. Are you always this submissive?" He moved his head so his lips were near my ear. "Perhaps I could dig up some more dirt on you and ask an old boyfriend?"

This infuriated me. Just like I had shriveled into the corner, I couldn't help the stinging slap my right hand delivered to his left cheek. The Joker, as he called himself, howled in laughter.

"Watch it, bitch!" A thug in one of the pilot seats infront of us ordered. "No one hits the Joker!"

Still laughing, the Joker clamped a hand behind my head and held it close to his. From his jacket pocket, he had another knife in his hand, held rather close to my face. "Wanna know how I got these scars?"

AUTUMN POV

I angrily slid the end call slider on my phone. That was the fifth time today Alice did not answer her phone. Perhaps she was on lockdown. Everyone was made to shut off their cell phones when that happened. But if there was a lockdown, I would have heard about it on the radio that was playing in my bakery. Screwing up my face, I decided to call one more time. It probably didn't help my worrying since Alice's mom had called me, wondering if I had talked to her daughter.

"Hey, you've reached the voice mail of Alice Burnette. Sorry I missed you, but if you could leave your name and number I'm get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks."

After the tone went off, I finally left a message. "C'mon Al, pick up the phone. Your mom called a little worried and it's starting to make me anxious too. Just call me if you can."

Putting the phone in my apron pocket, I returned to coloring fondant. Still, I just couldn't get the thought out of my mind of Alice being hurt or possibly kidnapped. It became so distracting that I couldn't focus anymore. I was pretty sure that the shade of aquamarine I was supposed to be making was now teal. Uttering a few curse words, I threw the sugar paste into the trash and opened a new bucket for coloring. This time, though, I made sure I stopped when it was a perfect blueish-green.

I returned to fondant to the bucket and put it in the fridge; I had to admit that I too many things on my mind. First was Alice and her well being. I couldn't remember the last time we didn't talk to each other for hours. And then was Bruce. There hadn't ever been a boy or man to make me so thoroughly confused. Once I locked the front and back doors of my bakery, I headed in the direction of Alice's apartment.

As I walked, I wondered, if Alice wasn't there, what was I going to do? The cops wouldn't help me. To them, a missing persons report was a death certificate, signed and notorized. An other reason Gotham pissed me off. I couldn't afford a good private investigator, either.

With a small growl, I cleared my head of those thoughts. Worry first, panic later. Once I got to the block where Alice's apartment building was, I frowned. Her car wasn't sitting at the curb where it usually did. Using the code she gave me, I puched it into the front door and after hearing the lock click, I entered. The elevator seemed to take way too long to climb to the fourth floor.

Alice had given me a key when she first moved into the place; said that whenever I needed to, her house was my house. And of course when she replaced the lock after dumping Crane, I got a new key. Placing the key in the lock, I opened the door, calling her name. The apartment was eerily cold and silent. Usually she had some kind of heating going on. Especially now that it was getting closer to winter.

I checked every room and there was still no sign of my best friend. I began to panic. So many things ran through my mind. I hated the image of a crime scene in my brain where she was the victim and Dectectives Benson and Stabler stood over her. I definitely watched way too many episodes of Law & Order: SVU. Even though I thought Alice should have let her sisters move in, I was secretly glad she hadn't. It would have been two more people angry at the police and frazzled about Alice's disappearance.

The time was about 7:27 when I noticed a note on the fridge. It had been taped on since Alice had no magnets. The letters had been crudely cut from a magazine and pasted onto the white printer paper. I ripped the note off the metal box and read it. Blindly I set it down on the counter and ran to the bathroom to vomit. She was gone. My best friend. The one who I was going to battle the rest of the world with. It was supposed to be me and her against the world; and someone had kidnapped her.

ALICE POV

I couldn't help how self concious I felt as I walked up another flight of stairs of an abandoned apartment complex in the Narrows, the Joker and other three men trailing behind me. However, the Joker had been somewhat gentlemanly enough to walk close enough behind me so he wouldn't be staring like the rest of his dogs. He slightly pushed me aside to open a door, gesturing for me to enter. As I did so, I was quite surprised to find it was warm, as if a heater had been on for days. Maybe for weeks.

The Joker snatched my wrist and lead me down a hall. All of the walls had been knocked a down on the inside, except for the structurally supportive, bathroom and bedroom walls. It was just all one big open area. Most of the doors we passed were open. We got to an area where there were two closed doors. The Joker retrived a set of keys and opened one. He held the door open, waiting for me to go in. As I walked past him, he grabbed my purse, taking it off my shoulder. With a snarky grin, he pushed me further into the room and then slammed the door. I knew he locked the door as I heard the mechanism click.

"So much for not pushing around hostages."


	8. Chapter 8

**Again, sorry for the screw up D: but, by now the problem's fixed and (hopefully) no one will notice :] Neither Breminy nor I own anything DC Comics, Warner Brothers, or Christopher Nolan related.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Eight<strong>

The light, a single naked bulb, swung overhead. The shadows grew and shrunk like the tide. The only other source of possible light was a boarded up window. In the far left corner was a crooked, stained, lumpy mattresses, part of me thought the floor was a lot cleaner to sleep on. I paced the room a few times, wondering how I was going to pass my time in here. I tried to keep the most important thoughts aside, trying to hide them.

But they crept into my train of thought, like a savage beast after its prey.

What were they going to do to me?

More importantly, what sort of purpose did I have for them to kidnap me?

Absentmindedly, I sunk down onto the mattress, tucking my head behind me knees and hugging my arms. I couldn't hear anything from outside of this room, I could barely hear the nightly sounds of the city behind the window.

There was anticipation in the air, the silence buzzed with foreshadowing danger. All I could do was wait. Wait for whatever was to happen next.

I have never felt so helpless in my life.

AUTUMN POV

It had been three days since I had discovered that note. As much as I didn't want to go to the police, I couldn't stop Alice's mother from calling them. I spent a full day being interrogated before they finally believed that I had nothing to do with the case. But, as most of the citizens in this city know, once someone is gone for at least two days everyone just gives up.

Especially, when the Joker has been mentioned.

But I wasn't going to.

The note didn't seem like a threat, there was no asking for money or offers to make a trade. It seemed as informal and nonchalant as a note you'd leave your parents saying you went out for the night. Something odd was going on and I was going to do something about it.

When it came to helping out my best friend, fear never really came into account.

So here I was, standing in front of my mirror feeling nothing like myself. I really didn't look anything like myself. To do this, I had to discard any traits that are a part of me now.

I managed to find skin tight black shorts, that barely covered anything, they were mostly just longer underwear. I wore an equally white shirt that just stopped right before my navel. I managed not only to find a replacement leather jacket but also thigh high leather boots. And with my heavy dark eye make-up, sinful ruby red lipstick, I perfectly managed to look like the sort of people I was seeking.

Leaving my apartment, I slid my key into the mail box, all that I had with me was a few fifty dollar bills, a pack of cigarettes, and a shiny metal lighter.

After a brisk twenty five minute walk I found myself just on the bad edge of town. Right in front a hole in the wall bar that was a notorious place for the lower chain criminals of Gotham. Usually you would find here, thieves and drug lords, but the hot gossip around town was that Joker had men scouting for potential "employees."

This was my biggest test yet, I had the look, but could I adapt a totally different nature in just less than thirty minutes? My hands shook slightly as I reached into the jacket pocket to pull out a cigarette, lighting it I pushed my way through the door.

I had expected the bar to be rowdy, but that wasn't the case. Men hunched over in clusters, talking softly, their eyes shifting all around the room. The moment that my boots thudded on the floor, at least thirty sets of eyes were on me. I smirked slightly as I made my way over to the bar, smoking my cigarette as if I had been chain smoking for years.

The only time I ever smoked was once in high school, so the urge to cough was all I could think about.

The bar tender hovered over me the second I sat down, he was a middle aged man who looked like he had seen a lot of terrible things in his lifetime.

"We don't get a lot of women in this bar," he remarked as wiped a glass with a dirty wet rag. "Anything I can get you?"

I pulled out of my fifties, folded, and placed them on the bar. "Information, if you have it." I purred, my voice was low and slow as if I thought out every single syllable. I pulled the cigarette away from my mouth, snuffing it out in the ashtray besides my hand.

The bartender cast a few glances around before he pocketed the cash. He placed his elbows down on the bar and bent his ear towards my lips.

"You wouldn't happen to know who Joker's lackeys were." I continued in my new found voice.

I watched as his dull brown eyes twitched to the far right side of the room to a table that was kitty corner to the side exit. Four men sat playing cards, poker chips, cigar butts, and beer bottles lined the table. The bartender turned back to face me.

I met his gaze with a smirk and one more fifty.

"Get them all shots of whiskey; make sure they know who it's from. And I'll like a small glass of rum."

The bartender nodded as he took my money, within second he poured me a tumble of Jack and was heading over with my shots. I watched him from the corner of my eye, as the four men received my gift; I turned my body to towards them. Lifting up my glass, I gave them a silent toast and a flirty wink.

Turning back around, I downed the drink, letting the fire of the liquor burn my throat and belly. Blanching from the after taste, I rolled the glass around in my hands.

"Miss, the men. They want to speak with you." The bartender whispered in my ear.

Slowly and with as much sensual energy I could fake, I made my way over to the table. Each man looked like a mirror image of the other. They were all burly, bald headed, tattooed, and vicious looking. I was damn sure that they each had the same weakness, an easy woman.

The man at the head of the table looked at me from every angle; it was easy to tell that he was the boss of this small group. "What makes you walk on in here and come to bother me and my fellas?" He asked, his voice held a thick Boston accent.

I perched on the corner of the table, playing with a stack of poker chips, "I was told that you knew a little bit about the Joker." I smiled deviously at him, not daring to break any eye contact.

The air around me grew electric; I could tell I was treading into a dangerous subject. But in this role, in these clothes, I loved danger.

"And what makes you think, that I would tell a red headed bitch like you anything about The Boss?"

"Oh come on, are you not a little curious as to why I want to find him?"

The other three men around me shifted in their seats, all looking at their leader with the same questioning glance.

The leader leaned back into his chair, placing his hands underneath his head. "Go ahead."

"Let's just say, that bad boys turn me on." I bit my lower lip as I spoke, it felt so cheesy, it felt like I was working for a late at night phone hotline.

"I'm a bad boy, do I turn you on?"

His response was all I needed to tell me that my cheesy lines were working. Slowly I nodded my head as I stood, circling the table I made my way to him.

"Why don't we go out back then for a bit," he suggested as he too rose and started to head for the side exit. With slow and meticulous steps, I followed suit.

As my feet touched the pavement outside, he slammed the door shut, grabbed me by the roots of my hair and dragged me up against the wall. He moved so fast I didn't even have time to react to my small framed body being slammed up against the wall.

"You're a fucking piece of shit cop aren't you?" He shouted in my face, like a rabies ridden dog, his spit flung onto my face. His grip on my hair tightened, he twisted it around his knuckled.

"I can assure you that I'm not. And just so you know, I like getting my hair pulled." The calm in my voice scared me, I was starting to really believe I could take on this giant of a man.

He released my hair so fast I slumped up against the wall, I saw him make a fist and swing. With as much luck as any charm could give me, I managed to catch his fist. Without thinking I turned his hand sharply, hearing the pop of bones as they broke.

I was finding more and more ways to make my medical degree worth something each day.

He recoiled and howled in pain. I took this time to reach out and do the exact same thing to his other hand. His screams grow louder.

The door banged open as his three friends shot out of the bar, within moments they were on me, like sharks in frenzy. I was thrown into their small circle, falling to me knees. I felt kicks on my back, stomach, and sides.

The air in my lungs was slowly being beaten out of me; the fight in my body was soon disappearing. All I could do was be there, taking each hit.

I could hear one of them say to stay away from my face, because if they did take me to The Boss, they wanted me to look presentable.

But suddenly there was a noticeable thud before me.

The attacks had stopped; I slowly slid my body upright to see what had happened. And for the third time since I lived here, I saw the capped figure of Gotham's hero.

He took care of the other three as if they were nothing; it was like three Pomeranians fighting a Great Dane. As they lay unconscious on the ground, Batman turned to look down at me.

"Do you have a death wish?" He growled and extending his hand out to help me.

I ignored it as I climbed to my unsteady feet, I could feel the bruises on my body starting to form. Awkwardly, I walked out of the alley and onto the street, trying to not cry out in pain.

"You should leave the crime fighting to the experienced." Batman commented as he approached me.

"What like you?" I growled, glaring over at him.

BRUCE POV

I studied Autumn, in that tight and revealing outfit, she looked so different but I could still see her. I knew of Alice's disappearance, I could only imagine how Autumn felt about this.

"I promise I will do anything in my power to-"

"You don't owe me any promises," she snapped, stepping closer to me. Our bodies were almost touching; from here I could see her shaky pain filled breaths.

Oh, but I do. I thought as I reached out and wrapped one arm gently around her waist, pulling her into the frame of my body.

I lowered my head and kissed her fully on the mouth.

In that moment I realized I made the mistake of letting her go. I knew I had to somehow reel her back in. This woman might be strong enough to endure the lifestyle I actually lived.

Autumn ended the kiss abruptly; however, she slowly pulled away from me. Her eyes locked onto mine. She took three steps back before she turned and ran down the dark street.

I watched with a heavy but determined heart, I hoped I could play this out for the better. Pulling out my grapple I threw myself once more into the skyline of Gotham, readying my eyes to spot out any crime I could intervene on.

ALICE POV

I sat on the awful mattress that I had been forced to use for the last two days with my back against the wall. The room was unbearably hot with the sun trickling through the board on the window and the heater which was still on. I had taken off my heels, pantyhose and blazer in a poor attempt to cool off. My legs were splayed out infront of me. I breathed through my mouth to keep from smelling my own body odor. All I really wanted right now was a shower; I could care less about how long the Joker kept me.

There was a knock on the door, followed by the scraping of the doorknob being unlocked. When the door swung open, it revealed a large, obese man holding a tray of food in one of his hands. After he stepped in, the walking wall shut the door and locked it behind him. In the three or four days I had been here, I learned this man's name. And probably his sympathy.

"Good evening, Doctor Burnette," Albert spoke, his soft voice had been the only one I heard since I got here. "Are you ready for dinner?"

"I suppose," I sighed. "You can put it on the edge of the bed. It's too hot to eat right now."

"The food, ma'am?" Albert questioned. I shook my head, taking notice I had nothing to drink with my meal of steak and potatoes.

"No, the room. Can I have something to drink, Al?"

A bright smile appeared on the heavyset man's face. He reached into his back pockets on his pants and handed me a frigid bottle of water. Before opening the cap, I took notice that there were no pokeholes, evidence that there wasn't any injectable drugs in the watter. Skeptically looking at Albert, I twisted the cap. After hearing the oddly comforting ripping of the plastic ring and cap, I took a long swig of the chilly water.

"Thank you, Al. You know, you're the only person I've seen since the Joker brought me here."

"The Boss trusts me with his more...interesting hostages." Albert smiled, a small blush appeared on his cheeks.

"Do you talk to him a lot?" I asked, simply out of curiousity.

Albert shrugged. "Kind of. We mostly talk about what I'm making for you to eat and if your comfortable."

"Well then," I didn't mean to make my words sound venomous, but I was angry and dirty and too hot. "Can you tell the Joker the next time you talk to him that my room is too hot and I respectfully request a shower?"

JOKER POV

Licking my lips and clapping my hands together, I looked around at the pictures, maps, blueprints, and thumbtacked red string connecting my thoughts visually. I threw my arms open, singing the song that was in my head out loud. There was a knock on the door, it sounded timid and slighty nervous. With a small grunt, I straightened my vest, casting an off glance at my jacket that sat on a chair in the room I occupied. The room was much too hot for that.

After opening the door, I saw Albert, looking down at the floor, his hands behind his back. I frowned and walked away, heading back to my plans. Slowly, Albert followed me inside, shutting the door too. Normally, I'd find him, surprising him out of his skin as I did so, and ask about my hostage. It wasn't often he tried to find me.

"How's our lovely hostage this evening?" I asked, my hands behind my back as I looked out of the window. My window faced away from the city, unlike the doctor's, which was why mine didn't have boards.

"She's not very hungry," Albert spoke softly. When I turned to face him, a questioning look on my face, Albert held his hands infront of himself defensively. "But the water that I give her, she drinks like a fish."

"And the food?"

"The doctor says her room is too hot to comfortably eat anything. And she would feel a little less...cooped up if she could bathe." Al twiddled his thumbs.

I turned to face the window again, hunched over slightly and licking my lips. I breathed through my nose as I watched the setting sun. Faceing Albert again, I decided upon the instructions I was going to give.

"Alright. Take her to a bathroom, one without a window, and give her whatever she needs. I'll figure something out for the heating problem." So it wasn't just my room that was abnormally hot.

"What about a change of clothes, Boss?"

I growled a bit. "Leave that to me. Just make sure no one disturbs her bath."

Pushing past Albert, I left my room first. Of course, grabbing my jacket. I headed for the common room area where most of my men filled their days with stolen cable or poker. There weren't many when I got there, but a few that I found capible of completeing the task I had in mind. Adjusting my jacket, I cleared my throat. All three men that were lounging about stood from their couch or chair.

"What's going on, Boss?" A boy with redhair asked me. When I said I boy, I meant barely out of his teens. I wondered what it was about me that lured such youngsters, but I wasn't going to complain or turn them away. I needed as much help as I could get.

"Grocery shopping."

ALICE POV

Not even ten minutes after Albert left my room, locking me in, he returned. There was a wide smile on Albert's face and he held something behind his back. I certainly hoped that the Joker hadn't ordered my death and Albert wan't holding a gun behind his back. It proved to be he was holding a towel and a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner.

"Boss said you can have a bath!"

I had to restrain myself to not roll my eyes and say "yippee" in an extremely sarcastic manner. Careful of the food that still sat on my mattress, I put my heels back on and followed Al. There weren't many thugs around like I thought they would be. Albert lead me to a door, guesturing for me to go in. I was extremely surprised to see that the bathroom was clean. The tub, the toilet, the sink and the floor.

"Al, were is everyone?" I asked.

"They went out with the Boss," He said simply, putting my towel on the rack and placing the bottles of haircare on a shelf in the tub. "Probably won't be back for an hour or two."

A sudden thought popped into my head and I couldn't get it out. I began to bite my thumbnail, trying to come up with something to distract Albert.

"Hey Al, do you think you could warm my dinner up for me? I'm sure it's going to be cold and I'm going to be starving after this shower." I asked, using the puppy dog eyes that had gotten me many things as a child that my parents probably couldn't afford.

Another wide smile rose on Albert's face. "Of course, doc."

The second Al left the bathroom I turned on the tub faucet. It had been too long since I had clean hair. I didn't care if it jeopardized my plan, clean hair was number one on my list right now. Leaning over the tub, I quickly washed and conditioned my hair. The clock on the wall told me that I had only taken two minutes to wash my hair. I probably hadn't gotten all of the haircare out, but I still didn't care as I towled off my hair.

Slowly, I opened the door, wary of the possibility of someone catching me. The last time I was outside, it was freezing. I didn't have time to go back to my room and get my jacket. I walked slowly, in fear of my heels giving away what I was doing. My ears strained to pick up the slightest sound that would get me in trouble.

Finally, I reached the door where we came in from. Like the bathroom door, I opened this one slowly, hoping to God it was well lubricated. Once I opened it wide enough, I slipped through the door and rushed down the stairs. My heels echoed off the floor and walls of the stairwell, making a great deal of noise. However, I was pretty sure that unless someone was in the stairwell, no one could hear it.

When I reached the bottom, I was as careful with this door as I had been with the other two. Luckily there was no one behind the door. The lot was incredibly empty. With a sudden busrt of energy, I ran, heading for the street. My wet hair flew behind me in the wind, my long legs took great strides to getting me where I wanted to go. I was amazed that I could run so fast in heels as the streetlights lit my way.

I soon found myself on my apartment block. Struggling to catch my breath, I slowly ascended the stoop steps and pushed in the code to the building. After hearing the latch click, I entered the hallway and headed for the elevator. Never before had I been glad to be in an elevator and listen to the muzak. The metal box dinged when it got to my floor.

When the doors slid open, I tried to regain my composure. I was halfway down the hall when I realized I didn't have my house key. Or my cell phone. Remembering the key I had put under my welcome mat calmed me a bit. But finding that my door was already wide open alarmed me. Hearing the Joker ordering his men around bothered me even more. Gulping, I spun on my heel and walked back to the elevator.

"Hey, you!" One of the thugs that had been shifting through my apartment had heard my heels as I walked away. Foolishly, I looked behind me. It had been one of the guys who trapped me the other night. His eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost. "Boss! The doctor got out!"

The Joker's head popped out from my apartment, a shit eating grin on his face.

"What're you waiting for," He demanded. "Get 'er!"

"Shit," I whispered, breaking into a run for the stairs.

I was quite surprised I had the advantage of running down the stairs. Secretly, I thanked the Arkham family for neglecting to put elevators in the areas where patients wouldn't be transferred. Running through the first floor hall, I headed for the front door. I could hear the slapping of men's shoes on the floor as I slammed the door. I ran in the opposite direction I came and looked back just in time to see one of the goons break through the glass and fall onto the stoop.

When the Joker appeared out of the door, stepping over his moron, I bolted foward again. I was not going to get caught. My mind raced as I tried to figure out the quickest way to get to Autumn's. And why wasn't anyone who was driving by stop to help? Maybe it was the clown with the handgun chasing me that put them off.

Taking a left down an alley, I nearly slipped on the slick pavement. Rocketting down the straightaway, I halted at a very tall chain link fence. Glancing back, I saw the Joker, stalking towards me, knife in one hand, pistol in the other. As I began to climb, I wished I had my car. There was a gun in the glovebox which I was a pretty accurate shot with. I was a police officer's daughter after all. I was half way up the fence when I felt a leather glove on my ankle. Looking down, I saw the Joker.

Caught.

AUTUMN POV

After having almost no sleep after my venture in the Narrows and bandaging myself up afterwards, I had to go to work. I moved slowly, trying not to perturb my ribs that screamed in pain. I had concluded that night they hadn't been broken. Thank goodness for that degee. I sniffed and instantly reeled in pain; I forgot about my hurting nose.

I locked the door to my apartment and headed out of the building. Alice stuck in my mind. How could I find her? Was there any other way to try and find her with out getting the shit kicked out of me again? I sighed. I had no idea how Batman did this every night. It was totally harder than it looked.

The rememberance of the name Batman made me a little angry. I couldn't believe he had such brassy balls to kiss me full on the mouth. I sneered; douche. Just as I emptied my thoughts of the Batman, my phone rang.

"My my my, calling already, are we Bruce?" I growled, ignoring the call and continuing towards the bus. Not long after I ignored the call, my phone rang a second time. And then a third. And fourth. On the fifth call I answered. I tried not to bother any of the other bus riders. "What do you want?"

"Autumn, something happened-"

"What?"

"Your store."

"What about C.P.?"

"You should get here right away."

Rolling my eyes, I ended the call and put my phone back in my pocket. The bus came to a slow stop, my stop, with a hiss of the air brakes. With two other fellow passengers, I stepped off and headed towards my bakery which was a short walk away. My mouth fell open as I got closer. I never thought this would ever happen. Not to me. Not on the good side of town.

Four police vehicles sat infront of my store, their blue and red lights flashing like crazy. Several officers stood around, taping off the area. There were two inside my shop, questioning someone. After telling the cops who were securing the premesis, I went to the cops inside. All of my glass had been broken. The cakes had been stolen. Along with my cupcakes, cookies, pastries, and a few cannoli's I had still had on display. Two weeks worth of work. Gone.

"Is this the fucker who broke into my bakery?" I snapped, getting closer to the officers. And Bruce Wayne. What on Earth was he doing here? "Bruce?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

I was utterly baffled as to why he was here.

An officer turned to me; he gave me a sad smile. "No Ms. Davis, he owns the flower shop across the street. He was the one who called this in."

I turned to look at the middle aged man who slowly started to look like someone I wished my dad was. He had a kind face, starting to fill in with wrinkles, chocolate brown eyes and a thick head of black hair. I don't know how I could have suspected him when he wore a green sweater vest and corduroys.

I gave him an apologetic smile, "sorry, I react pretty harshly to news like this."

He smiled back wordlessly, but the understanding in his eyes was all I needed to see.

I turned my attention to Bruce now, "and why are you hear? Do you make it a habit to appear at break-ins?" My words came out in a furious snap; this was the last thing I needed, for the guy who dumped me witnessing my life getting worse.

"I came over to bring you coffee," he spoke with a soft voice and dared to reach out to try to comfort me.

"Miss, I hate to interrupt you, but there is far more damage than just the front room." The officer spoke up, gesturing to the most important part of my bakery. I felt my heart shatter, cut every single inch of my body, and then disappear.

In a dazed state I nearly sprinted to the back room. I stopped dead in my tracks, covered my mouth with my hand to keep myself from either crying or screaming out enough profanities to get me in trouble.

Who ever had broken in must have been incredibly strong, because I missing both of the large and really expensive ovens, one of my refrigerators was broken beyond repair, and all of the small tools of mine were missing. There was not a single goddamn cake pan in sight.

I walked myself back up to the front room, walked center stage out of the shop, where I plopped myself down on the curb.

I had no clue as to how I could bounce back from this setback.

"Ma'am, can we get a statement?" Another officer asked me, I didn't bother to look up at his face, just stare at the sidewalk.

"I am fucked." I paused. "No, write, I am financially fucked."

"Is… Is there anything else we can do for you?" He asked, clearly taken aback by my attitude.

"Yeah, just get out of here." I hissed, still not bothering to look up. I waited until I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore to turn around and look at my shop. I felt like I was about to cry out an ocean, with sea life and everything.

"I'm sure your insurance will cover most of this," Bruce said as he suddenly appeared by my side with two cups of coffee, surprisingly they were both still steaming.

Wordlessly I took the cup he gave me; taking a big sip I realized that this was my favorite coffee with just the right of cream, sugar, and cinnamon.

"Barely, it'll only cover the window and maybe a few other things. But I'm looking at a good handful of thousands of dollars here…" I suddenly wished my coffee was Irish.

Bruce eased himself down next to me, his shoulder brushed against mine before he settled beside me. His blue eyes reached my own and he gave me a gentle smile as he nudged me.

"Well Autumn, I wouldn't mind helping you out."

I gave him a dirty look, "don't make me spill this coffee on you. I'll be fine on my own; you have no obligations to me."

He brushed my knuckles with his thumb, "I really would like to help you. I'm going to help you." Bruce spoke in a stern and powerful voice; it was a tone that I was sure he always ended up getting what he wanted.

"Don't pull this right now, please." I begged. The tears were starting to swim towards my eyes; I couldn't handle him being this nice to me. I wish he had been here to gloat at my misfortune. The moment one single tear and sniffle escaped me, I jumped to my feet and started to head back into my shop. Hopefully I could hide out in the office until everyone left.

ALICE POV

My wrists were bound tightly to the arms of a stiff rolling chair, the plastic rubbed against my skin in the worst kind of way. My feet were tied with rope, close enough that I could have easily been in first position for ballet. And around my mouth was a foul smelling rag, it made my lips numb and my tongue fuzzy. I was submerged in such a dark room that my vision was filled with fake colors.

I had no idea of time; I could have been in here for hours or days.

Soft whispers started to bounce into my ears; my heart gave a few strong thumps as it awoken with my rising fear. This was it, I was going to die. In this awful room, bound and gagged.

The door slowly opened, like a scene from a horror movie, a small beam of light flew into the room. Three figures appeared side by side in the door way, I could make out the large frames of two of the thugs on either side of the thinner Joker.

Joker closed the gaps between us. Now his painted white face, red smile, and intriguing brown eyes filled my vision. I watched as he quickly licked the corner of his mouth and place one of his feet on the arm rest of my chair. The tips of his dirty shoes brushed against my fingers. If he really wanted to, he could stomp on them.

Reaching out like a cobra, he removed the rag from my mouth, tossing it aside like it was yesterday's garbage.

"What a VERY risky thing you pulled last night." He murmured, his voice wavering in volume.

I sat speechless, trying to find any sort of weapons on his person.

He reached out and grabbed my face, pulling my neck out; he bent down just enough so that we were almost nose to nose. He started too really squeeze my face, making my lips pucker like a goldfish. I could smell his slightly stale breath; I did my best to keep the panic out of my eyes.

"You're very LUCKY that I like you sooooooo much," he whispered like a snake. His words coiled around me, I shivered slightly.

He just stood there, as still as a statue, holding my face in his hands. His eyes crazy but not in a way I had ever seen before. There was a very intelligent man before me, I knew that. I wanted to ask him why he had taken me, was there any purpose? The longer we looked at each other the more Joker's loosened his grip on my face.

Soon I was able to move my jaw; I was free from his grasp and free to speak. He still lingered over me in that half perched position.

Somewhere inside of myself, I found the courage to spit out the words in my thoughts.

"Why are you doing this?" I whispered, my voice was hoarse from lack of use. "Do you want me to do anything for you? I don't have a lot of money…"

Joker let his foot fall from the arm rest, he brushed aside some of the stray and out of place hairs in my face. "In all good time you will find out the plan I have for you Doc. THAT is of course if you don't try pulling what you did last night."

At that moment, when Joker's warning rang through my ears and crawled into my brain the two men still standing by the door frame tossed some of my clothes at me. They fell short and landed at my feet, but even from there I could smell the scent of my apartment.

"Get dressed quickly, so we can escort you back to your room." Joker said as he undid all of my bindings. "I'll give you one minute to change; I'll close the door for privacy."

When the door closed once again leaving me scrambling in the darkness once more, I tried to pull together another escape plan as I pulled the old college sweatshirt over my head.

BRUCE POV

I watched as Autumn swept up the last of the shattered glass into the trash bag that I held open for her. Despite all of her efforts and desire for me to leave, I fought to stay behind and help her clean up the shop. Now the two of use stood alone in the ghost of what was her business just a day ago.

"Autumn, are you ready to accept my offer from earlier," I asked for what was probably the tenth time. It had been two hours since I first made the offer, eventually my persistence had to wear her down.

She swept her long hair behind her ears, setting the broom against the wall; she gave me a stern look. "Bruce why do you want to help so badly, were you the one who broke in?"

"No, of course not." I replied, keeping myself calm, cool, and collected.

"Then what is it? Why are you bothering me with this?" She snapped. I never took her as the type of woman to just take her anger out on anyone in her path; she was like a wild animal on a rampage.

"Because, I want another go at what we had a few months ago," I confessed, without shame. That had been my intention for this visit from the start.

She gave me a bewildered look, "and you thought I would just jump into your arms? Did you really think I was that type of woman? It's going to take a hell of a lot longer even before I consider giving you a second chance."

I smirked playfully, cunningly. "Is that a challenge?"

"It is whatever you want it to be." She let out a huff of breath; I could tell that I was starting to wear her down.

"Alright Autumn, I bet in two weeks I can prove to you that I'm serious about re-starting this." I spoke those words like a business deal; I made perfect eye contact with her and even extended my hand out.

She bit her lower lip in thought as she cautiously extended her own hand. "Fine, but after two weeks you leave me alone."

"Deal." I whispered softly as I shook her small pale hand.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

It was obvious how adment the Joker was about my not escaping. The only shoes of mine he had given me were the two pairs of heels that added a lofty six or seven inches to my height. I couldn't help but hate my outfit. A vibrant blue spaghetti strapped shirt, my college sweatshirt (which sported the crest of Gotham University) over that, skinny jeans, and my favorite pair of "summer heels". They were much to strappy to wear during winter.

"Why do I insist on wearing nothing but heels? Where the fuck are my sneakers, I know I have a pair." I uttered, crossing my arms.

Almost as if he heard me talking out loud to myself, the door swung open showing the Joker. Picking the clothes I had worn for about five days straight off the ground, I left the room and allowed the Joker to lead me back to my room. Several of his thugs, including Albert who sported a fancy black eye, surrounded us as we walked. I felt like a high risk prisoner being lead to her cell. However, I had to admit, I felt bad for subjecting Albert to a black eye.

Joker unlocked the door and followed me in. He locked the door behind him. I dropped my dirty clothes in a corner. It was then that I noticed my fluffy flannel black comforter on the mattress. Warily, I looked over at the clown, who nodded breifly at comforter. Like a small, frightened child, I slipped under the thick blanket and wrapped it around myself. Including my head. I felt no shame whatsoever as I leaned against the wall.

"Why did you bring me my things?"

"A woman should never have to go without at least one change of clothes," He shrugged. "But you...I shouldn't have even given you your things. You have been naughty. I mean, that _wwhhooolllee_...escape thing."

"Can you really blame me?" I asked quietly, laying down on the mattress.

The Joker watched me as I pretended to fall asleep on the lumpy bed that had once been comfortable. I could hear his tattered brown shoes hit against the flooring as he neared the door. He unlocked and opened the it, but paused before closing and locking.

"Soon," the Joker uttered. "You'll soon see it my way."

His words chilled me to the bone as I laid on the mattress, wrapped in my cucoon made of comforter. What was it that I would eventually his way? I doubted that the way I veiwed life would change. The Joker was a sick man with some serious mental problems that no doctor, witch-doctor, shaman, whatever you want to call it would fix. Not a lot of what this man said or did made any sense. With a snort, I rolled over and fell asleep.

I was woken up by the slam of my door and a body jumping onto my bed. Of course, it had to be him. Joker leaned against the wall, licking the purple frosting off of a cupcake. My stomach gurgled, telling the world that I was awake. His deep borwn eyes looked down at me, a smirk grew on his face as he set a cupcake with green frosting, that had been sitting in his other hand, on his knee. The Joker slowly peeled the paper off of the cake and tossed it in the far corner of the room.

He took a big, slow bite out of the fluffy golden bread. I narrowed my eyes, watching him from where I laid on the mattress. There was no doubt in my mind that he knew I was starving. A maliciously wide grin grew on his face when he swallowed. Like a child, he patted his belly in satisfaction.

"Delicious," He purred, taking a much smaller bite this time.

"You're an asshole." I groaned, attempting to hide another vicious growl. He chuckled as he finished off the first cupcake.

"Naughty girls don't deserve sweets."

"And yet you still refuse to give me proper nutrition."

He looked at me in the corner of his eyes, as if he was pondering something. I was a little curious, but not by much. The Joker, after all, was a mad man. "I haven't had anyone go grocery shopping lately so there's no food. Except for the lot of cakes and other goodies me an my boys took. So, here, eat up."

The Joker held out the green frosted cupcake. It sat there in his open, purple gloved hand, taunting and teasing me. _Eat me_, I swore I heard the pastry call to me. The delirium was getting to me; I needed to eat. At this point, I could care less if it was drugged with a sedative or LSD, I just wanted to eat. Gingerly, I took the cupcake. Sitting against the wall furthest from Joker but still on the mattress, I used my finger to eat the frosting first. I couldn't help but think the icing tasted familiar.

"Should I ask what poor soul got their livelihood smashed to pieces when you and your guys stole this?" I asked, not giving him eye contact. I could feel the mad man watching me as my green stained finger delivered the last bit of frosting to my mouth.

He shrugged. "Some awfully decorated bakery on the North side. Can you believe someone actually styled their business like a 1950's kitchen? It had a cat clock and everything. You really should have seen it, doc. The owner must be a pure nutcase!"

My hunger blocked my thought process. It wasn't until I took a bit of the cake that I knew whose bakery Joker was talking about. Of course I knew why the frosting was so familiar now! It was the same recipe Autumn used; not too sweet, not too bland. And the cupcake...it had to be hers. I had been eating her creations since her parents had bought her that Easy-Bake Oven when we were growing up.

"Autumn's..." I trailed. "What all did you take?"

"Oh, not much," Joker mused. "All of the things that were on display, a few ovens, kitchen tools..."

"You're an awful person," I managed to choke out.

There was no other option for my than to finish the cupcake he had given me. I was starving. Still, I felt bad for eating something that was the product of Autumn's bakery getting raided. The Joker sat in my room for three more minutes when he realized I wasn't going to be talking much. As the door shut, I decided it was time for an escape.

AUTUMN POV

It had just been three days since my shop had been torn apart, three very long days. With it all up in the air I found it hard to keep myself busy throughout the day. The only work I had was to finish a few custom cakes I had already taken orders for. The only plus side of this was that I was able to catch up on much lost sleep, I hadn't been rolling out of bed until noon.

I was taking an evening to stroll around my part of the city, hoping to clear my head. Without Alice around I didn't really have anyone to vent to. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even bother to check the street as I started to cross. It took the screeching of tires and the smell of burning rubber for me to look up.

The driver at I made eye contact, he looked at me like I was scum. I wanted to flick him off or walk away like I was some sort of a bad ass but all I managed to do was awkwardly jog to the other side of the street.

Just after a few feet I started to hear the rampaging sounds of a runner's sneakers as they slapped the pavement, keeping my eyes on the ground I moved to the far left of the sidewalk, giving the jogger as much space as possible. With my eyes to the ground I noticed that the red and black sneakers were slowing to a stop.

"How is it that every time I run into you, you're always in some sort of trouble?" I heard a breathy voice ask, raspy from the chilly air it was hard to recognize.

Quickly I looked up and saw the well known Playboy of Gotham. I had to fight hard to keep the look of disdain from off of my face, even though we had spent the previous night together.

"Stalking me isn't going to make me want to date you again," I chided as I started to quicken my pace; I hoped he would be too tired to keep up.

Bruce only widened his stride, grinning from ear to ear. "I think you're the one stalking me. Yesterday you were at the same newsstand as I was and now you are in my jogging route."

I rolled my eyes, "Bruce you don't own the city."

"I beg to differ."

A group of rowdy college boys walked by us, each of them taking a second look to check me out. Almost instantly I felt my walking partner drape his arm over my shoulders and pull me to him. Bruce Wayne was not a jealous man; he just liked to show off at times.

I turned to look at him, finally noticing the tight black shirt he was wearing; sometimes I found it unfair he could get away with tighter fitting clothes better than I could. Blushing slightly at the sight, I quickly turned my head up to the darkening sky.

I found it odd that only a few hours away in my home town, the stars would be boldly shinning in the sky but here the smog and city lights devoured them.

Bruce and I walked a few blocks, his arm had fallen and he had taken a hold of my hand. I didn't protest, it felt too nice to be walking on the outskirts of the small park in the middle of the city in the early nightfall. It would have been a little romantic if I had made my mind up about the man besides me.

Sirens started screaming in the distance, howling like animals. A sudden flash of light illuminated the sky; it was a serious ordeal if the police were seeking the help of Batman.

"You should probably get home," Bruce said between clenched teeth as he tightened his grip on my hand and hurried his pace.

"Bruce, that's a good ten blocks away from here. We'll be fine." I sighed as I tried to deaden my weight, but he still managed to pull me along.

"In this city Autumn, you don't take chances like that." He barked as he charged me back to my apartment.

We stood at my front door; I was almost out of breath while Bruce seemed alert as a watchdog. Rubbing my reddened wrists I searched his face for any hint to what he was thinking. He had a habit of doing this every time crime's ugly face reared into the city. It was like he was trying to find the criminal himself.

"If you're so worried why don't you stay at my place for a while?" I offered, hitting the door with my hip, opening it just a few inches.

He shook his head, "I really need to get going. I have some work to do." His words were short and sharp, his tone changing from playful to dead serious.

"I'll call you tomorrow," he said as he started to jog down the stairs. I couldn't help but to admire the view.

"I'll be waiting," I muttered under my breath as I shut the door, it did little to drown out the sounds of danger outside.

ALICE POV

The sirens were loud, they were close, maybe just a few buildings down. I could barely hear my thoughts. All I could focus on was the shrill noise that polluted the air.

"No."

I took a deep breath as I slowly stood, my feet wear bare, and my heels had really started to bother me after wearing them for a full day.

"I have to escape." I whispered as softly as I could, I never knew when I had someone listening outside my door. I padded over to the boarded up window, from a small crack I could see the whirling lights of the police cars. If there was crime going on, I could bet that the Batman was running about the city.

If I could somehow get his attention, I could get out of here.

With the sirens covering up most other sounds it would work in my advantage. I acted faster than I thought for once as I backed up against the opposite wall to the window. I took a deep breath and tried to ready myself for the oncoming pain. I hit a short and small sprint as I crossed the room and rammed my shoulder against the wooden planks.

Much to my surprise they groaned as they gave under to my attack, small hairline cracks started to appear. I backed up and slammed it again, ignoring my already throbbing shoulder. The second time a few pieces from the middle fell apart and tumbled down to the ground.

The hole was just enough for me to place my face to and shout out to the city.

I gathered all of the air from around my, counted to three, and then I shouted as loud as I could for help. I shouted over and over, until my voice started to drain out and crack. I kept shouting even though I was hoarse and my throat burned. As tears started to trail down my cheeks all I could think about was that those stupid fucking police sirens was still ringing.

"No one is going to hear me." I cried as I pressed my forehead against the broken boards.

"Oh I wouldn't say that," a voice cooed from behind me.

I spun around to see the Joker walking into the room; he was smiling with his hands behind his back. I couldn't take it anymore; I hated being trapped in this limbo. Frustrated I reached out and grabbed one of my heels, I tossed it at his face.

"If you are going to kill me, go ahead!"I hissed, "I'm tired of this."

The shoe missed his face just by an inch, Joker gave me an annoyed look as he tossed a plate of food down onto the floor.

"I was going to give you the meal that you so desired," he said as he stepped over the splattered food. "But like I said earlier, naughty girls don't get what they want."

By now he was standing right in front of me; his hot breath was hitting my face.

"Do you really want to dieeeee?" He asked, reaching out he started to stroke the side of my face, his touch was tentative but I knew there was violence behind it.

"It's better than this." I muttered, trying to fall away from him.

Joker grabbed me by the roots of my hair, pulling it just enough to lift my up on to my toes. I saw his other hand dip into his pocket and retrieve a stiletto knife. He pressed the cold steel blade against my tender skin; I felt its quick bite.

"Are you sure about dying now?" He whispered into my ear.


	11. Chapter 11

**There's a poll on my profile, Breminy and I would really like for you loverly readers to vote. Please? D:**

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><p><strong>Chapter Eleven<strong>

Mustering as much energy as I could, I brought my knee to his stomach. With a sharp exhale of breath, he fell to the floor, holding his waist. Not wasting any time, I went to the window and with a new found strength, I ripped a few of the boards off the window. Not bothering to look behind me, I climbed up on the sill off the window. There was just enough ledge for me to slowly shuffle to the fire escape which was a couple windows down. I could hear the Joker catching his breath, laughing as he did so.

I had to hurry, before Joker alerted his men and grabbed me through a window. Taking wide sidesteps, I quickly reached the fire escape. By then I had heard the Joker scrambling his men, telling them to catch me before I got away again. In a split decision, I chose up instead of down. The streets hadn't worked that well for me last time. I just hoped that the roof door could some how be blocked from the outside just long enough for me to somehow signal Batman.

Once I reached the roof, I found a broom stick laying around and put it through the handles of the thick, French door styled steel doors. Hopefully that would keep them away long enough. In the meanwhile, I began to scream. Off in the distance, I saw a shadowy figure, something like the tabloid pictures of Batman flying around I had seen. My heart pace quickened; I needed to get the Dark Knight's attention. He wasn't but a block away. I prayed that he might hear me.

The thugs had reached the thick steel doors leading to the roof. One of them, he had to be one of the three huge men Joker employed, used his shoulder in an attempt to get through. I was sad to see the broom was giving way, but not too shocked. Biting my lip, I returned to the fire exit to see more goons running up the metal stairs. Fighting my way down was stupid; the blow I had given to Joker was a lucky one. I was not good at hand to hand combat; if only I had a firearm.

The rooftop doors flew open, several thungs slowly made their way onto the main area of the roof. I bit my lip harder, trying to desperately find another way of escape.

"You're not going anywhere, girly," A gruff voice behind me spoke. It wasn't until then I noticed that the thugs climbing up the fire escape had joined us.

I forced the dry lump in my throat down; there was no way out of this. I knew what was coming next. They were going to gang up on me until, hopefully, the Joker stopped it. I didn't see him or his purple suit in the crowd so I assumed that he was waiting for me to be brought down. Talking nicely wasn't goingto work. I had pissed these guys off once before, and this was the second time I tried to leave without permission.

One goon stepped forward to throw me over his shoulder to take me back to Joker. Instinct called, I closed my fist and swung. Surprisingly enough, I hit the sweet spot of his jaw, instantly knocking him out. Although it felt like I had just punched a brick wall, I was somewhat proud of myself. Albert stepped forward, fists clenched, angry look on his face, blackeye almost gon from his face.

"I was nice to you, Doctor Burnette. You shouldn't have gotten me in trouble," Albert hissed, staring at me coldly. I was on the ground before I could tell what he was going to do. My cheek stung and I saw that his right arm was crossed over his body. He had just slapped me; I was in deeper trouble that I originally thought. Al was a pretty big guy, and despite what I told Joker, I actually did want to live. "Don't go light on her, boys."

Before I could even attempt to defend myself, one of the Joker's goons was holding both of my arms back. He held me on my feet. I was sure that if I even tried, I couldn't stand on my own. As the first blow to my ribs landed, I instantly regretting trying to escape. After that first hit, the goon holding me let go, delivering painful kicks to my sides with two of his comrades. I tried to shout, ask for help, just incase someone was listening. But the screaming I did earlier had done a number on my vocal cords; all that came from me was pained tears and hoarse whispery cries.

"That's enough," A voice that I could easily recall as the Joker's ordered. The man who's leg was in mid swing froze. As did the other goons on the roof. "Go downstairs."

"Boss?" Someone inquired. Despite the pain, I could tell that there was an air of confusion and for a moment, defiance. They really wanted to hurt me so bad they were briefly thinking of ignoring their boss.

"I said leave!" Joker snapped a little bit louder.

I could hear the sounds of roof gravel crunching under shoes as the thugs left heading for the stairs. Hugging my sides, I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that the small amount of pressure I was putting on myself could somehow help. The rooftop went silent for a while as the Joker watched me and I kept myself from moving too much. Yes, I was sure now; I definitely regretted trying to escape. The Joker walked over to me. I imagined there was a gun or a knife in his hand.

My fears were deterred when I felt his hands guiding me into his arms. As much as I wanted to protest and be anywhere else, I was trying not to scream from the pain. I soon found that my vocal cords wouldn't even allow me that. Finally, I allowed the tears to fall down my cheeks. It seemed like a year had passed from Joker picking me up on the roof to when he laid me on the crappy mattress. I laid on my back and pulled the comforter over my head.

"Have we learned our lesson?" He asked.

I didn't answer. I didn't want to answer. There was a rough grumble from the Joker before he shut my door, the familiar scrape of the lock coming after. The window boards were still broken, the ones I had ripped from the window lay scattered on the floor. The food the Joker had brought me was still on it's tray on the floor.

The wind that my open window allowed in chilled me to the bone. My situation was slowly getting worse; I was hurt, cold, and hungry. The food was one of the things I could take care of first. But chances were that it, too, was freezing. And I didn't feel like making myself hurt more. It already pained me to breathe. I curled into a ball, using the comforter to try and keep my body heat, I kept my eyes shut, hoping that I would wake in the morning.

I woke briefly when two of Joker's men came in to board up my window. "You think she's gonna wake up?" One whispered.

"Who gives a shit?" The other snapped. "Albert won't ever leave the door to this room, she's not going anywhere. I still can't believe Joker hasn't killed this bitch."

The decision between dreamland and reality was easy. However, staying there was a different story all together. I woke again later in the evening. My sides were sore and my cheek, where Al had slapped me, was hot to the touch and a little sensitive too. But, it felt good to stretch. Now that the window had been shut and the boards replaced, the room was much warmer, and a little bit mor inhabitable.

I could hear somekind of comotion coming from outside my door. A woman screamed for help, and when a gruff voice told her to stuff it, bawling replaced that cries for resuce. I listened intently, wondering if I'd hear the Joker or anyone else say anything. The lock to my door scraped open and in walked Joker, along with three thugs. One held the newest hostage. Was I to share a room with her? I sneered at the thought; the comforter was mine.

I shook my head at the animalistic thought. Had a week of being in this Hell hole really changed me that much? The new hostage's blonde hair had been covering her face, but when she had been tossed into my room, a black duffel bag following, I recognized her. She had been one of the few surgeons at Arkham. Her eyes widened when she saw me sitting on the mattress against the wall.

"Dr. Burnette!" She gasped, catcrawling to where I sat. In a very unusual display of friendship, she threw her arms around me. I barely knew this woman, yet she held onto me like I had grown up with her. Her display of affection was a bit too enthusiastic as she squeezed me and I hissed in pain. "Are you hurt?"

"Just a little, Penny," I responded. "What're you doing here?"

"She's here to make you better, doc." The Joker said, toying with the stiletto knife he had given my cheek a small cut with the night before. He turned and shut the door, locking it as he did so. Penny, or Doctor Andrews I should say, looked at me, eyes still wide.

"Is he serious?"

"As serious as cancer," Joker answered, testing just how sharp the blade was with his thumb. "Go on, do your exam."

Hesitantly, Penny let go of me, her color had long drained from her face. With a reluctant look, I nodded. "Um, I was kicked in the ribs."

"How many times?" I didn't think it was possible, but more color left Penny.

"Sorry, doc, I wasn't keeping count," I rolled my eyes as I lifted my tank top and sweatshirt. From where he sat in the corner, eyes at the ground, I hear the Joker giggle. Penny gulped audibly when she saw the purple and blue bruises. She began to gently prod them, making sure there were no obvious breaks. Doctor Andrews then began to roughly examine each mansized foot print. I gasped as she pressed rather hard on one of them.

"Apologies, Alice," Penny spoke formally. "No cracks or breaks. Pretty bad bruising though. Take it easy for a while, like two weeks. Try not to get into anymore trouble."

Nodding, I watched the Joker unlock the door as I put down my shirt. Albert walked in and gruffly snatched up Penny. Again, she cried for help. This time, she directed it towards me. The second Albert stepped out of the room, Joker slammed the door and locked it again. AS if the comforter would somehow protect me, I pulled it close, watching those curious brown eyes of his.

"What's going to happen to Penny?" I asked.

He paced, twirling the blade in his hand. The Joker's answer was a simple shrug. "I have a challenge for you. It includes you leaving safely," My ears perked at the chance for me to leave the seventh cirlce of Hell. "If you can work with me and my men for a period of time, I'll let you go."

"How long will this period of time be?" I dared to ask.

"Oh, it starts now. But only I know when it ends," He smiled evily. Of course.

"I assume I don't have much choice in this."

"Not really."

GORDON POV

It had been two weeks since Alice Burnette had gone missing. There had been many people claiming they had seen her here and there. My people checked out each and every lead, but none took us anywhere. I had been quite surprised to see a letter from Bruce Wayne himself come across my desk, offering any financial help that was needed in order to find the missing doctor. And I would have loved to accept that money; but the case was cold. There were no leads, no witnesses to her suspected abduction, no hints, except that her apartment was looted by a gang of ruffians.

It was time for me to call off the search. We were getting less and less calls about her and spending money that we needed for other things. Despite how it broke their hearts, I had to tell the Burnette family the search was being abandoned and the case was being shut. People went missing every day in Gotham. To spend more than the allotted week on one doctor showed favoritism and told the public we only cared about those with a higher college education. And for me, that wasn't true. It was all politics.

Autumn Davis had been then loudest protestor when I announced the search for the doctor would end. There wasn't anything else I could say to her about her friend that I hadn't said to everyone else; we were running out of money and good leads. Naturally, I expected her to be upset. I would have been just as angry if a search for my wife or best friend was shut down. I couldn't help but feel like she was going to do something rash to find the doctor.

It was with a heavy heart that I knocked on the apartment door that used to belong to Alice Burnette. Her family had come to Gotham in hopes that being here would help find her. Alice's mother answered the door, her eyes rimmed red and nose stuffy with snot from her tears.

"Lieutenant Gordon," She spoke, her voice little more than a whisper. "Have you good news? Is the case reopened?"

"No, I'm afraid not ma'am. I'm here with some business." I frowned, looking down at the shorter woman.

"Business? What kind?" She asked.

"I don't like doing this, but it's our policy to issue the family with a death certificate-"

"A what?" I heard from the twins who were standing not too far away from their mother. The door opened wider to reveil Alice's younger brother.

"It's not signed, or official. The city of Gotham can no longer search for her, but I hope that you won't end your search. However, if your family ever makes the decision to end the search, you are allowed to sign this paper." I finished grimly.

I dind't know what to expect in the next few minutes. Many things had happened over the years after I finish explaining the police forces policies. Alice's mother gingerly took the file I held and shuffled away. Her son, thanked me and then softly shut the door. Swallowing what little pride I had left, I turned and headed for my squad car. Perhaps I would mention this to the Batman the next time I saw him.

AUTUMN POV

Stupid, crummy, lazy cops! All they did was sit on thier asses and eat doughnuts while my best friend was missing. And then two weeks later they end the search. I was angry - no, livid- beyond comprehension. They were giving up, even Alice' family was starting to lose faith. I had gotten a call a couple minutes earlier from Alice's mom; Gordon had given them a partically filled in death certificate and they want my vote on whether to make it official or not.

It was a stupid question. Voting to make Alice legally dead? Ridiculous. The second her mother had said "what do you think?" I hung up. Given the reputation of Gotham, it made sense that Gordon would make the certificate process easier. But for them to give up so easily upset me. How could they? They were her family! If I found Alice, even if it took me the rest of my life, I would tell her how easily her own family gave up.

Pulling at the top of my boots again to make sure they were just right, I left my apartment, not bothering to lock it. After all, I lived on the nice side of town now. Gordon claimed there were no more leads on Alice's case. They hadn't even looked at her car when I told them that it wasn't infront of her apartment building. Walking to Alice's car didn't take long. There was a derelict car sticker on the back window, telling the pick up which one was to go. The doors were unlocked so I opened the driver's side and pulled the hood release.

Once I opened it, I noticed the cut wiring. There would have been no way Alice could have started her car that night. With a sigh, I slammed the hood shut. I needed a drink. Heading for the nearest bar, I wondered if it was a good idea to get ot a bar in the Narrows. I had, after all, gotten my ass kicked after asking about the Joker. With a shrug, I entered the bar anyway and ordered a rum on the rocks. I took it to the back of the room and sat at an empty one person table.

For about an hour I sat there, listening for any useful information on the Joker. I really needed to find him; perhaps he would know something about Allie. He kind of seemed like the kind of guy to know what goes on with the scum of Gotham. Finally deciding that there was nothing here, I left a tip on the dirty table top and left the bar. The cool air of the night greeted me as I exited.

There was a commotion down the street. It looked like several men were ganging up on one. I walked on the other side of the street, trying to make it seem like I was minding my own business. But as I got closer, I noticed the much bigger than me men were picking on an elderly man who was trying to tell them he didn't have anything on him. I felt it was necessary to stop the mugging.

"Hey!" I called out to the shameless thugs, making my way across the street. "Leave the old man alone!"

They all turned to look at me. I froze in my tracks as I saw the latex clown masks on their faces. Joker goons. "Why should we stop, girly?" One asked, I couldn't tell which one.

"He's an old man, he doesn't have anything..." I said softly.

"Bitch, don't tell us how to do our jobs!" Another ground out, taking a step towards me. "This must be the one Tommy told me about. The Joker doesn't like it-" One of his comrades stopped him before he could continue.

"The Joker, huh?" I asked with a new found bravery. "Where is he, I need to talk to him."

A different clown approached me. "No one asks for the Joker. And unless you're needed, the Joker won't take you."

"So how did you get hired?" I asked snottily.

My answer was a back hand to the face. I stumbled to the ground. As I attempted to get up, I got a knuckle sandwich in my jaw. Three goons stood over me, hitting me everytime I tried to get up or say something. Two others stood by the old man to be sure that he didn't get away. There was a loud clicking in the air, which stopped my aftter school beatdown. I recognized the sound; it belonged to the hammer of a pistol being pulled back.

"Step. Away. From. Her." A woman's voice spoke. I swore it sounded like Alice's. Once the veil of thugs cleared, I got somewhat of a sight of the woman who saved me. Although a stream of blood from my forehead clouded my eyesight, she sure looked like Alice. She held a large caliber, black pistol, aiming it at one of the thugs. "Pick her up carefully. Take her to the van, next to my seat, be gentle. And you," She turned to the other two. "Let the old man go."

I shut my eyes as one of the thugs lifted me bridal style and headed for his destination. Thankfully it didn't hurt too bad as I was put into a pilot seat and buckled in. I heard several people enter the van and then the driver's side and the slider door shut. There was a pressure on my fore head. The woman instructed one of the thugs to hold the rag she had put on the gash on my forehead. With a different, and hopefully clean rag, she wiped the blood off my face and out of my eyes.

"There you go, Tummy." She purred

The second she used the nickname Alice gave me, my eyes snapped open. Just as I thought; it was Alice! She wore tight black pants with her thigh high black boots. I had seen them once at a Halloween party when she had dressed up as a diva. Alice also wore a white tank with a black cardigan.

"Alice," I breathed out, leaning forward to give her a hug. The saftey lock on the seatbelt caught me, but Alice met my embrace. "Where have you been? What are you doing with Joker's thugs?"

"It's a long story." She looekd away and sighed

"Is he the one who kidnapped you?"

Alice smiled widely. "You always were the dectective out of the two of us. Tony, can you take us to the North side?"

As Alice gave the thug driving directions, I watched the passing scenery. Here she was. Hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars had gone into looking for her and two hours after I left my house, I found her. The drive to my building wasn't long and I was more than happy to be getting out of that van. Alice instructed the men to wait for her as she put my arm around her shoulders so I could use her as a crutch. Although I didn't need it, I welcomed her help as I held the rag to my head to kepp my bleeding down.

"Alice, stay with me," I offered when we got to the door of my apartment. "I'll call Gordon. He can get you somewhere safe-"

"No. This is the third time the Joker's let me out this week. The first time without him watching me. He and I have a deal and I can't leave. You don't know the kind of man the Joker is. You don't want to." My friend opened my door and returned her shoulders for help.

She lead me to my bed, gently laying me down.

"Get some rest, Tummy. I'll keep in contact with you, I promise. Just, tell my family I love them, will you?"

My world started to feel like a dream. The pain had started to course through my body in huge tsunami waves; I was drowning in the sensation. As my vision grew hazy, I heard Alice's footsteps start to creep out of the room.

I wanted to yell at her to not leave but I was starting to feel the heavy pressure of a blackout. I couldn't fight the darkness as it swept me up and tossed me into nothing.

BRUCE POV

I had just returned from Hong Kong two hours ago, I practically delivered Lau to Gordon with a ribbon tied around his neck. As Bruce I had departed from all of the lovely ladies from Moscow's ballet as charming as I could possibly be. There was just one thing I hadn't managed to accomplish to do today; get in contact with Autumn.

It was closing in on three days since I had last spoken to her. I couldn't imagine that she would be angry at me for. We already had the fight over me going "behind her back" and paying for all of the repairs and replacement for her bakery. Then again, women are moody creatures…

Pulling my phone from my back pocket I checked it, no missed called or messages. I was almost to my penthouse; the door was just down the hallway… But I felt the sudden urge to go and check up on her personally. I remembered when I caught her fighting those thugs a few weeks back when Alice first went missing; it was highly probable they could have done the exact same thing to her.

And besides Alice, I would be one of the only people to notice her missing.

I spun around and nearly sprinted towards the stairs.

I made it to Autumn's apartment in a record speed, fifteen minutes, it would have been faster if it wasn't for the five o clock traffic littering the highway. Parking right against the curb, the tires of my Rolls Royce kissing the pavement, I bolted up the stairs and almost rammed my fist into the door.

After five full minutes of my fist rapping against the door, I figured it would be best if I just opened it myself. I pulled out the small credit card lock pick set; I always kept it in my wallet. For those days I felt like being Batman more than Bruce Wayne. I slipped out one of the smallest picks and started to jiggle it around inside of the lock, it clicked open almost instantly.

Stepping into the apartment I noticed that not a single thing was out of place, either Autumn was perfectly fine or those thugs had been really careful. I walked cautiously, keeping myself alert for any sign of danger.

When I reached her bedroom at the end of the hall, I nudged the door open with my foot and hung back as it slowly creaked open. The room was dark and cool the blue curtains were drawn tightly as if they hadn't been opened since the night before. I inching my way towards the bed I started to make at sleeping form of Autumn.

Her red hair was wild, like a lion's mane. I brushed it back to reveal her face, revealing the dark bruises that spotted her face. Pulling my hand back, I turned around to make sure no one else was in the room with us.

Bending down I placed my fingers in front of her face, snapping them as loudly as I possibly could. When that didn't work, I clutched her shoulder and shook her body.

I watched as she slowly opened her eyes, wincing as if it hurt.

"Bruce…" She whispered. I hovered over her; I wanted to be close enough to help her.

As she raised herself into a sitting position, the blankets slid off of her and I noticed that she was wearing the same slutty outfit she had the night I met her in The Narrows.

In one second all of the precaution and worry left my body, anger replaced everything. She was stupid, incredibly stupid.

"What time is it?" She whispered, her voice sounded far away.

"Six." I spoke fast; my jaw was clenched as was my fist.

"I slept for a whole day…"

"I've been calling you for two days."

She turned to me, her eyes as wide like an owls. Without any knowledge of grace she hopped out of her bed, I noticed a slight limp as she staggered across the room. She grabbed her phone then covered her mouth.

"Holy shit." She whispered, looking back up at me. I was the headlights and she was the extremely unlucky deer.

"Autumn, what happened to you?" My voice was starting to escalate into a yell. Reaching over I pulled the large floor lamp on, sweeping the room with florescent light. Her pale freckled skin was tinted with purple and blue spots, right near her hairline was an angry cut caked with blood.

She stood there with her lips sealed tightly.

"Autumn, what are you doing to yourself?" I shouted, stepping forward. I was angry because I cared or at least I hoped so.

"Don't yell at me right now; let me wake up first…" She whispered as she brushed past me, slipping off her clothes like a snake with its skin. "Just hold that thought until I finish showering."

"No, we need to talk about this now." I growled as I followed her into the bathroom, "believe me, you'll be able to hear me over the water." I threatened. I leaned up against the sink, my arms crossed tightly over my chest; I couldn't help but to sneak a peek at her naked figure from the corner of my eye.

I waited until Autumn slid the shower curtain closed before I spoke again.

"What you're doing is stupid. You're going to end up in serious trouble if you keep this up." I shouted, fighting with the running water.

As the familiar scents of her soaps started to fill the air, I felt my anger start to wane. But I pulled it back to me, I needed this emotion, I had to make her understand that she was dealing with something I knew she couldn't handle.

"I can't protect you every time you get into a fight. Stay out of The Narrows." I barked, my words bounced around the room.

I heard the shower curtain glide across the railing as Autumn pulled it back, she stuck her wet face out of the shower and gave me a long and hard look.

"I never told you I got into a fight before…" I watched as thoughts seemed to roam around her face, her blue eyes were starting to brighten as things were clicking.

"You're Batman."

I froze, not from shock; I just didn't know how to react. I expected her to figure it out but not so soon. Autumn was sharper than I thought. I looked up at her, making sure I met her gaze. I gave her a Bruce Wayne charming smile.

"You're right."

She slowly nodded her head, ducking back behind the curtain. "I would have never guessed it would be you Bruce. I was thinking that perhaps, it was one of the policemen here. But, we both know that is a little far fetched."

"Oh, so me being Batman makes more sense?" I mused, for now I was going to bask in the joy that she figured it out. I'll worry about trusting her later.

AUTUMN POV

Stepping out of the shower, I saw Bruce in a different light. No longer could I only see the charming and handsome billionaire before me, but I saw the strong and harsh masked vigilante. Wrapping a towel around my slender body, I rushed passed the mirror. I didn't need to see how badly my face felt. I already knew that my body wasn't a pretty sight either, it ached in places that I never knew it could.

Bruce followed at my heels in silence; I could feel his eyes watch my every movement. I could tell he was expecting me to do something, but what?

"So, are you going to step aside and let me take care of things? You've already risked a lot, I'm sure a few of those people can remember your face."

I bit my lower lip, trying to avoid eye contact with him; I pulled on some black underwear and a white tank top.

"I don't know if I can make a promise like that just yet." I whispered, "Alice is too important to me just to give up. We're closer than sisters Bruce, if anything; I'd like your help."

Bruce placed his hand over his eyes; it was a look most parents got when they were about to strangle their children. "What in the world is it going to take for me to talk you out of this stupidity?"

"Probably me dying, I don't want to give up as long as I have a chance of getting what I want."

We exchanged a look and for the first time, I saw behind the mask that he wore publicly. The life of the party, charm your panties off playboy was vanishing. In those blue eyes I could see the drive Bruce had to not only avenge his parents but also to protect the city his family had strived in for so long.

"Fine. But, I want you staying with me for a while. Until I know no one is after you."

I smiled softly, closing the gap between us. I placed one hand on his chest, while the other snuck into his back pocket. Looking up at him, I let my smile grow just a little bit.

To my surprise, Bruce wrapped his arm around my waist. He bent his face down to mine, smiling deviously with his eyes.

"Just so you know, you look like you just walked away from a riot." He teased, speaking those playful words into my hair.

What an ass.

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><p><strong>Please review! They mean a lot! :D We don't own any DCWarner Bros./Christopher Nolan/Batman materials, characters, stocks, shares, blah. Blah. Blah.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry it took so long for this to get updated! Both Brenda and I have been extremely busy. And we're thinking about ending this on the 13th chapter. Good news though, everyone! We're going to continue in a part two. Oh, and as I heads up, I'm planning on a move, this time to Texas so the next how many ever chapters may be delayed. However, enjoy this one!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Twelve<strong>

ALICE POV

My sleeping schedule was totally out of whack. I blamed the Joker wholly. I slept during the day and broke the law at night. Actually, most of the time I read books, hung out with a few of Joker's guys and ate cheap, crappy Chinese food. It had been a week or so since the Joker had really gone out. He was planning something big. We could all tell.

It had only been a few days ago that Maroni and Chechen had called the Joker, telling him the deal was on. They were ready to pay him half of their organisations life savings in order to stop Batman.

"You were right," Chechen admitted over the phone. I could hear him screw up almost every word as he was on speaker phone. "The Batman is a real problem. We've spoken with our other associates and they agree; we're all in accordance to pay you."

Joker's mood improved a little after that call. With all the plans that he was making, he left me alone even more than he had before. It was a little odd not to have him breathing down my neck. I hated to admit that I was used to being with him and the other outlaws.

I wasn't sure when or how I had suddenly changed my mind about him. But I saw him in a different light now. The Joker was a highly intelligent man, who most likely had a bright and promising future in some sort of career. Something had happened to him, but what? I was curious to know what the real version behind his scars were. Several times I had heard different stories.

The banter between the boys and I had grown boring. Pretending like I had nothing on my mind, I strode to the Joker's room. The door was open and he paced the length of the room. Pictures of people and places, maps, half throught out scribbles, and some red string attatching theories to answers littered the walls and partially the floor. His purple jacket had been thrown lackadasically on the back of a random chair and the old couch he had adjacent to the window was empty. Picking up his jacket, I flopped onto the couch and began to pick at whatever was on the jacket. Stray green hairs, mostly.

Joker's brown shoes continued to thud against the wood flooring. I watched him from my peripheral; he was not bad to look at, at all. He was slender, the shape of his face fit his body perfectly, and that smile... No matter how yellow his teeth were, it was charming and difficult to ignore. The sleeves of his blue hexagonal shirt had been rolled up, revealing nicely shaped muscular forearms. I had to admit, I was surprised there were bumpy and shiny white scars on his arms. I hadn't expected a man who demanded such attention and loyalty from his men to have battle scars. But I guess there was only one way to the top for crime lords.

"One of the boys tells me that you ran into your friend the other night," Joker mumbled, still pacing the room and tapping his finger on his chin.

"Yes," I nodded a bit, still picking off green hairs. They hid perfectly into his coat and I had to squint to find them. "One of them hit her hard enough to make her bleed too. Don't worry, she's good at listening to me."

Joker scoffed, still pacing. Giving up on the search of the green hairs, I swung my legs onto the couch and laid back against the arm chair. The time was about two in the morning and I felt spent. It was time for a nap; the sound of the Joker kept me awake as did the curiousity of the origin of his scars.

"Joker," I spoke softly, earning a "hmn?" from him. "Have you ever told anyone the real story behind your scars?"

Joker stopped pacing. The hand he had on his chin slowly fell to where his other hand was. He looked at me, a blank expression on his face. I had learned by now that it was the blank stares and the angry grimaces that were the expressions to look out for. His grins were usually followed by a whooping laugh.

"Now, Aaaallliicccee," He drawled, sitting on the couch next to me. Thankfully, I had moved my legs before he did so. "What's the fun in telling the truth? I like to keep people guessing."

"Even if you told one person the truth, it's not like it would be credible," I shrugged. "You've told too many versions that even if you told the truth, how can that person be sure it's true?"

"Mmn, what a puzzling paradox, eh?"

"Indeed. Have you planned anything for tonight?" His silence was my answer. No, he hadn't. "In that case, I am going to bed. You know where I am if you need me." Placing his expensive purple jacket on the Joker's lap, I stood, cooly leaving the room. Something that not even his most trusted henchmen dared to do.

Perhaps it was because we had a deal and he hadn't cause Autumn or my family any harm that I pushed the boundries. I was almost done with taking his orders in exchange for my freedom. Part of me thought of turning in his hideout to the police. Another part, deeper and mysterious, told me not to. An even darker and secret part of me was tempted to ask if I could stay. As I cuddled into the bumpy mattress and my comforter, I mused about staying until I fell asleep.

JOKER POV

With a curious look on my face, I watched my prisoner leave my room. Now that she had come in and distracted me, I lost my train of thought. For longer than I should have allowed, Alice consumed my mind. Leaning on the back of the tattered couch, I placed my hands on my knees. How long had I kept the doc here? The time had even slipped my mind. Several of my boys had become accustomed to working with her. So much so that they outright refused to work with me if Alice was not going out on a peticular night.

I stood from the couch and unrolled my sleeves, rebuttoning them at my wrists. Slowly, I left my room, huming to myself as I ventured down the hallway. A couple guys pressed themselves against the hallway walls once they saw me. Halting right infront of Alice's "bedroom", I noticed she had neglected to shut her door.

She slept silently; if I hadn't known her situation, if I was a total outsider, I would have guessed it was a peaceful sleep. Turning away, I thought when the last time I had slept was. Biting the inside of my cheek, I struggled to remember when I last had more than two hours of sleep. Obviously, it had been too long. Sleep, however, was not my concern at the moment.

As I walked through the hideout, I picked up on the conversation the men were having. A lot of them talked about sports and avoiding staying out of prison. Some spoke of who would win in a hand to hand combat fight; myself or the Batman. With a small smirk on my face, I continued, searching for something that would make up my mind about what was on the forefront of my brain.

"Aren't Alice and the Boss together?" Someone asked. I could tell it was one of the new hires. I believed it was the youngest of my crew; a 20 year old runaway from college. A couple older men laughed.

"Kid, if Joker were screwing the Doc, you'd know," Another said, shrugging while he said so. I hid behind a wall, listening to the conversation. Three of my older guys sat at a poker table, playing Blackjack while the youngest simply watched. "However, I have to say the Joker has gotten a little soft..."

"What do you mean?" The kid asked.

A different man spoke up this time. "Have you ever gone out on a job with Joker lately?" The kid nodded. "He ain't anything like he used to be."

"What was he like before Alice?"

"Ruthless," The third older man spoke. "I remember going to do a job with him; long story short, we went to a Russian pawn shop, stole everything and he was the one who killed everyone there."

"Yeah," The first spoke up. "I 'member that too. But now that Alice has been here, he's mostly been supervising-"

That was the end of the conversation for me. I knew it. I knew I was getting sympathetic because of her influence. Whipping around, I strode back to Alice's room. Yes, Alice, I do have plans for tonight.

AUTUMN POV

It had been a long day, trying to reorganize my shop and having a very rushed date with Bruce. Now that I knew he was Batman, everything made sense. Why he had always been rushing as the sun went down, his sudden lack of appearances in gossip magazines and tabloids. Of course, a few had even started a "Wayne Watch." I had been somewhat flattered when I read a Wayne Watch featuring me. So far, there had been nothing but nice things said about what I wore that day and down right amazing things about my bakery.

Now that I was getting free promotion by the magazines that blabbed about my relationship with Bruce and my wonderful creations, business was picking up again. While it was nice to get back to work, Alice remained on my mind. Where was she? Was she okay? After I had been saved by her, my desperation to find her increased.

Her mother, brother, and sisters had taken ownership of her apartment on the nice side of Gotham. Currently, no one lived in it. They hadn't even started packing her things. With a sigh, I sat down on my couch, trying to ignore the anger I felt towards my second family over the whole situation. Daintily, I sipped the icy cold Disaronno, trying to forget the whole subject. I groaned when I looked at the clock; four in the morning. Just as I turned on my television, there was a very loud knock on the door.

I ignored it; it was probably my neighbors having sex next door and smashing their headboard against the wall. But when the knocking continued, my suspicions began to arouse. Who on Earth would be knocking on my door at four in the morning? Bruce? No, he had been patrolling lately, looking for where the Joker was. Besides, he would probably come through my window. After all, he probably would be wearing his Batsuit. My heart froze when the knock came for a third time and my mind fell on the Joker. Could it be him?

Setting my liquor on the coffee table and standing from the couch, I went to my door. "Who is it? Do you realize it's four in the damn morning?"

It was silent on the other side for a minute or two until the knocker answered.

"Tummy? It's me. I know it's late, but could you let me in?"

ALICE POV

I had fallen asleep for only about half an hour when I was jarred awake by a foot jammed into my ribs. I was hissing in pain well before I opened my eyes to see who my attacker was. I titled my head back, my hair stroking the dirty floor, Joker stood over me. His face was frozen in that angry sneer that I've come to learn was the arrival of a new job.

"Hurry up and get dressed." He snapped at me, shrugging into his jacket. The floorboards creaked under his weight as he slithered out of my room.

Twenty minutes later I was riding in the back of the van, the road was bumpy so I was bouncing around like popcorn in a microwave. I tried to brace myself for each pothole, but the cold steel of the car would just ease out of my grasp. With no window to look out of, I was unaware as to where we are going. All I could do was hope that this was going to be one of the very last things I will ever do.

The van started to slow down, it hit one final pothole before coming to a complete stop. For what seemed like an eternity everything was still and silent. My stomach started to churn nervously, my hands were fidgeting, and I couldn't keep thoughts of impending death out of my head.

The back door creaked open and the dim streetlight started to bleed into the van. I looked up at the Joker's face, in the yellow light his white painted face looked more ghastly than usual.

"Aliccccce, please get out of the car." His voice hissed.

I crawled out of the car; my legs were shaking with fright. My head spun around as I desperately tried to take in my surroundings. Like an animal planning to flee for its life. It didn't take me too long to realize that I was somewhere in the Narrows.

"So what's the job?" I stammered, trying to keep my eyes focused on the Joker's permanently grinning face. The adrenaline in my body fought against me, I may have come to understand that running is a worthless effort, but not the primeval part of my brain.

"I want you to run." The Joker said, he took a few lurching steps towards me. "I want you to run as fast and far as you can." He waved his hand in the air as he spoke, as if he were gesturing to my freedom.

Already I was backpedaling, I forced myself to wait. I needed to be sure that this wasn't some sort of a test.

We stared each other down, my heart beat heavy and fast in my chest, I was sure that he could hear it. He could probably smell my anxiety.

"Well, what are you waiting for? I'm done playing with you Doc… At least for now." His last words seemed to echo, a threat I knew was very real. As I turned on my heel and burst into a sprint, I knew I had to prepare myself for whenever that day would be. The day that I was going to rejoin the likes of the criminals that roamed the streets of this city. It wasn't Joker's threat I was concerned about. What scared me the most was that very soon I would have to integrate myself back into normal society. After some of the things I've done, I wondered if I could ever find my place again.

I ran a good five or six blocks before my lungs started to sting, every breath I took was a small dagger to my chest. At least I was in a part of the city that I recognized. I wasn't very far from Autumn's new apartment. I slowed myself to a brisk walk, making sure to stand under the street lamps and as far away from the dark alleys as much as I could.

After what seemed about twenty minutes I made it to Autumn's, by the graying sky I guessed it was getting pretty close to dawn. I wished with everything in me that Autumn's insomnia was making itself present tonight.

I rapped on the door three times before I heard Autumn's cool voice on the other end.

"Tummy? It's me. I know it's late, but could you let me in?"

AUTUMN POV

I touched the screen of my phone, bringing it to life just so I could wince at the time. It was creeping in on seven in the morning. I hadn't slept a wink. Alice and I planted ourselves in my kitchen with a pot of coffee. I told her everything, about how her parents wanted to give up the search, the vote to finalize her death, and the lack of effort to keep hope that she was okay.

Alice didn't say much, I could tell that at times she was deeply hurt. Her hands would grasp the handle of the small black coffee mug and her brows would knit tightly together. Over all of the years I've known her, I learned that this expression meant that she was beyond angry and way past furious.

"I'm sorry I kept you up so late." Alice whispered, she looked pitifully into her empty mug.

I gave a small laugh as I scooped up our cups. "I doubt I was going to get any sleep anyway. Besides, you know I care more about you than I do sleep."

She gave me a little half hearted smile.

"Well, I'm going to get ready for work. So you're welcome to do whatever, for like the rest of the day…"

In the shower I couldn't help but to run over a thousand and one different scenarios of her parent's reactions to Alice being safe and sound. The two biggest ones were regret and shame; they would be regretful that they didn't try harder to find their beloved daughter. And be so full of shame that they almost pronounced her as dead.

When I turned off the shower I started to hear the faint murmur of voices drifting in from the living room. It was either the television or my friend had gone crazy. Worried, I draped my towel around my body and rushed out to see if she was okay.

I walked in on the sight of Alice and Bruce making light and slightly awkward conversation. I could see the hint of distrust in Bruce's eyes; Alice had worked closely with the Joker that was for sure. There wasn't a doubt in my mind he was wary about her sudden reappearance.

"Autumn, when were you going to tell someone that Alice was back?" Bruce asked, his eyes barely moving away from my friend's face. The way he was watching her was starting to stir something hostile inside of me. I bit the inside of my cheek as I crossed the room.

"Well, she just showed up on my doorstep at four in the morning. I didn't think that the police would believe me if I called them that late."

Bruce made some sort of grunt of approval, his gaze not lifting from Alice's face.

I grabbed his arm and started to lift him up from the armchair he sat in, "I need to speak with you in the other room."

Alice either pretended that she wasn't there or that we weren't. She turned all of her attention to flipping from channel to channel on the TV.

Once we were safely in my room, the door shut behind us, I turned to Bruce and gave him a dirty look. "You don't need to watch her like she is some kind of threat." My voice came out as a low hiss.

He reached out and gently grasped my shoulders, looking down at me with an expression that suggested I had no idea what I was talking about. "Autumn, how could you be so sure that it's safe?"

It's? Was he just referring to my best friend as It?

He must of have read the though on my face because he let out a heavy sigh, "that's not want I meant. We can't be sure if there isn't a lie or plan behind her homecoming."

"Bruce, I can't be sure about you being crazy or not because you dress like a bat and fight crime." I muttered, "But I ignore that suspicion because…" I trail off at that point. I knew what would sound right at the end of that but I didn't think it would feel right to say it.

Bruce and I never really were much of a sweet couple, we didn't use pet names and we didn't say I love you. It threw some of the people we knew into a loop, but it was perfectly fine for us.

If I ever said those words to him, I wanted to make damn sure that I meant it and he wouldn't cower away from it, but for now it was still too early for me to tell.

He looked at me patiently, waiting for me to finish my sentence.

"I ignore it because I… I… I really enjoy your company." I finished lamely, stepping out of his grip. I tried to busy myself with getting dressed to push the thoughts away from my head; I couldn't help but to wonder if I will ever be able to voice my feelings to him.


	13. Chapter 13

**This one's a long one! Hope you guys will like it. By the way, my co-author and I are going to end this story and start a part two. not sure what's it's going to be called yet, but it will be on my profile and we'll absolutely tell you before we complete this fic. There will be one more chapter after this, so enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen<strong>

ALICE POV

I woke to a loud banging on Autumn's door. Of course, I had been watching some stupid show on the television when I had fallen asleep. By now, it was something completely different. The clock on the cable box read 2:50 pm. Oh good, I've had seven hours of sleep.

"Doctor Burnette," the oh-so familiar voice of Lt. Gordon shouted through the door. "Could you open the door? I'm here of official police business."

With a little groan I turned off the tv and went to the door. Looking through the peep hole, I saw that it was infact Gordon. Actually, it was just Gordon; no one else. No cops, no handcuffs, no reporters. Knowing it was going to have to happen sooner or later, I opened the door, allowing Gordon into the apartment.

"Sorry to barge in like this," He uttered as he scuffled past the quickly closing door. "Bruce called me. He said he was worried."

I looked into the grey eyes of the lieutenant. That fuckin' brown nosing, trust-fund baby. The news that my family had given up had upset me enough. How could they? They were my family! After all I've done for them; paid bills, fed them when my mother lost her job and dad couldn't afford anything, clothed the twins when theey needed it. How dare they. And now Bruce...I knew what he was thinking. He thought that I was only coming back to Autumn for money or food or some shit. What was his damn problem? I swear, his extreme lack of social life and fear of commitment made him the prime suspect of the Batman in my eyes.

JOKER POV

The time was five o'clock. I sat on my aging couch, right leg tossed over the left one, arms crossed. Out the window, I watched as the sun set, pinks and oranges colored the sky. My foot got restless and began to shake. My mood was changing and the forecast called for a slight chance of bloodshed. They were supposed to have been back an hour ago.

Outside my room I heard shouting and some thuds. Fights between my guys were normal, but today was not a day to be having a fight. I stood quickly and threw my door open. My ears caught a few of the things that were being said. Things like "you just left them there?" and "the police? Are you retarded?". The second I stepped into the room where they were fighting, everyman went silent. The one who the rest were picking on leaned against a table, hand clamped over his left eye.

"What's the problem," I uttered.

"Tom, Dave, Allen, and I were putting those bombs in place. We finished early and decided to go to a pub. The other three started a fight and the cops showed up. I'm not going to lie boss," The man spoke, still holding his eye. I vagely remembered his name; Fred or Frank or something like that. "I ran. I couldn't get caught by the cops."

"He just left them there!" Someone protested.

"Fuckin' coward! Gut 'em, Joker!" The rest of the men joined in on the heckling.

I held up my hands and almost instatly, everyone stopped yelling. The room was silent for a minute as the others waited for me to pass my judgement. "Clean him up. As long as the bombs were placed and we're set for tomorrow night, we're fine. Smith, Thomas, and Warren, you're now on Frank-Fred, whatever his name is...you're on his team."

"Shit like this never happened when Alice was here."

The words seemed to bounce around my head, like a child'd ball. I couldn't tell who had spoken those words. I stared into each of my men's eyes. I folded my hands behind my back.

"Who said that? Proud men take pride in their woooorrrrdssss," The room was silent again as no one stood up to claim their speech. "Come now, owning up to it now won't be as bad if I find out on my oowwwnnn..."

One man took a step out of the crowd. He had dusty blond hair and a guilty look on his face. No matter how guilty he looked, he held his head high, as if he really was proud. "It was me, Boss. And I mean it. Every wor-"

The impact of my fist on his jaw sent him realing to the floor. I stood up straight and readjusted my vest. "So, is everything prepared for tomorrow, everyone in position?"

ALICE POV

"Allie! You home?" The voice of my best friend rang out through the apartment.

"In the living room!" I shouted back.

I was in a dark mood. The interview with Gordon had made it that way. And the fact that Bruce was the one who had told Gordon I was back made it worse. Something about Hitler was on the History channel and I was rather interested by it. However, I knew how much it disturbed Autumn, so I picked up the remote and changed the channel.

"You're boyfriend is an asshole." I uttered as Autumn flopped on the couch next to me.

"What? Why?" Autumn tilted her head like a confused puppy. Lolling my head over to look at her, I couldn't help but narrow my eyes.

"He called Gordon to tell him I was back from being lost or whatever,"

Autumn shrugged. "Maybe he was concerned..."

"I was going to take care of it later," I snapped. The look on Autumn's face when I had lashed out at her made my stomache sink. "Oh, Autumn, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so rude; I didn't really expect to be grilled so soon."

"It's alright," She sighed and crossed her legs. "Bruce can be a handful sometimes, but he means well. In other news, have you heard about the fundraiser he's throwing for Harvey Dent?"

"Not really," I shook my head.

"Well, he's pretty much throwing this big fancy party to support Dent's campaign. I just got off the phone with Bruce and he invited you too."

I snorted. "No thanks."

"C'mon, Allie! It's formal! And you love dressing up."

"I don't feel like it."

"Not even if Bruce is paying for our dresses?"

The prospect of someone paying for a dress, someone who could by the world over at least twice, perked my curiousity. While I still didn't really want to go, I could tell it meant a lot to Autumn. This was technically the first time they went to a fancy party together as an official couple. She was going to need all the support she could get. With a small sigh, I rubbed my temples.

"When is it?" I asked as a brilliant smile played on her face.

BRUCE POV

I looked at my watch for about the seventh time in ten minutes. The guests were beginning to arrive and the girls hadn't come out of the spare bedroom I allowed them to use for the night. A couple people had curiously asked if Autumn had dumped me and if wasn't arriving; which I quickly denied. An elderly socialite, who had been somewhat close to my parents, warned me not to get her pregnant. The time was half past six when Autumn and Alice decended the stairs to the party.

Autumn had picked a green dress. The dress was a halter with only one shoulder strap holding itself to her right shoulder. On her petite feet were a pair of towering black heels which made her the perfect height to where I wouldn't have to lean down to kiss. Her nails had been painted black and make up done perfectly to make her blue-grey eyes glow. The red tresses of her hair was pulled into a tail at the bottom left part of the base of her head. It had been curled perfectly.

Next to her was Alice, who tried her hardest to appear like she wanted to be there. She wore black dress which from the hollow of her neck to her mid-thighs was pure black. From the base of her neck and to the ends of her wrists was a sheer fabric of alternating black patterns. The same sheer pattern went from her thighs to her ankels. It fit her very well and the taupe heels she picked made her the same height as Autumn and matched very well. If I didn't know any better, I wouldn't suspect her to be a cohort of the Joker.

I didn't dare tell Autumn how close I had been to hauling her friend off to Arkham. I had been patrolling in the Narrows, desperiately looking for the Joker's hideout when I saw Alice standing at the bottom of a stoop. A cigarette had been in the first two fingers of her left hand and in her right was a gun. A Smith and Wesson 357 Magnum to be exact. Not much long after I spotted her, someone had called her name and she dropped the cigarette, whirling around up the steps. I watched her leave the building with a few other men and the Joker. Both her and Joker watched the men load up various items into a van.

Alice had her arms crossed, pistol still in one hand, while Joker had one of his draped across her shoulders. It took every bit of my power not to fly in there and break his arm. So I followed them and eventually lost them. Whoever was driving, it seemed like they knew they were being followed. That had to be one of the most frustrating nights since I had taken up the mantle of Batman.

"Bruce?" Autumn's honey like voice snapped me out of memory lane. Alice stood next to her. With a smile, I bent my neck to give her a small peck on the lips.

"Sorry about that," I cleared my throat. "The beauty of you two made me lose my thoughts."

With a roll of her eyes, Alice turned around, the skirt of her dress swishing around her ankles as she ventured to find a drink. Warily, I watched her go to the bar and order a whiskey on the rocks, flipping her oaky brown hair over her shoulder. She used this facade, I could quite obviously see throught it. Alice had to still be working for the Joker. I could feel it in my bones; this was another of Joker's plans. I had been informed that during the whole month Alice had been back that she flat out refused to talk to her family and had given up almost completely. Something in me said to keep Autumn away from her. And I intended to listen to it.

ALICE POV

I was on my second drink, an ameretto this time, when Harvey Dent approached the bar. He looked like every politian, coiffed blond hair, blue eyes, cleft chin, a starring quarter back on his high school football team. Probably. He ordered a scotch and once he got it, began a conversation with me.

"Enjoying yourself?"

I shrugged. "It's alright. I'm not a fan of the monkey in the lime light."

"Do you mean Bruce Wayne?" Dent used a thumb to point back at Bruce who was entertaining a group of people. Autumn at his side.

"Yep," I chewed on a stirring straw, leaning on the bar. "I don't know what it is, but I always hate my best friend's boyfriends."

Dent took a double take from Autumn to me. "You mean Autumn Davis? She's you're best friend."

"Since birth," I straightened and held out my hand for him to shake. "Alice Burnette."

"Harvey Dent," He took it firmly shaking. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll have to excuse myself."

I watched as he went to the side of the frigid Rachel Dawes. Hadn't she been Bruce's previous lady friend? I wondered if Bruce's attention was fully centered on Autumn.

The party dragged on for another hour or so until there was a commotion at the elevator to Bruce's penthouse. I still stood at the bar, sober as a bird, when I whipped around to see the Joker raise a shotgun with it's barrel sawed off and shoot it into the ceiling.

"Good evening laaiidiiess and gentlemmeeenn," He drawled. Someone dropped a serving tray and it clattered to the floor. "We are...tonight's entertainment!"

People stood, shocked that the Joker was actually here. I felt a clammy hand clasp onto my arm. Upon futher investigation, I found it was Autumn's.

"Where's Bruce?" She hissed. Trying not to attract any attention. My mind wasn't on Bruce right now, rather than the Joker.

"Don't know." I answered simply.

"Shit," Autumn looked at the Joker. "Alice, how could you have possibly worked for this guy? He's such a creep."

I looked at my friend. I had the strongest urge to defend the Joker but held it back. There was something on Autumn's face when she had mentioned where Bruce was. As if there was something...

"Autumn, are you hiding something from me?"

"No!" She looked up at me. "How do we get out of this alive?"

"Let me handle it."

The Joker had picked up a shrimp kabob and took a bite. Facing the crowd he began to speak again. "I only have one question; where. Is. Harvey. Dent?"

Silence ruled the crowd as no one dared to speak up. As if anyone would know where he was; I hadn't seen his shiny blond hair for about five minutes. The Joker pointed his shotgun as a few frightened female socialites who stared at him, mouth agape. He took one of their glasses of champagne, sloshing most of the liquid on the floor and draining the rest. With a thud on a metal tray, he set the glass down and began to ask individuals where Dent was.

"You know where Harvey is? Do you know who he is? Do you know where I can find Harvey? I need to talk to him about something. Just something little, huh?" He held the face of an aging man and shook the man's head in a mock answer. "No. You know, I'll settle for his loved ones."

Joker had picked up a snack from another man's plate as he spoke, popping it into his mouth.

"We're not intimidated by thugs!" The man growled valiently. He spoke for himself as I noticed most everyone cowered as Joker's thugs and Joker himself swept the room. I could see the Joker narrow his eyes.

"You know," Joker sat his shotgun on a table. "You remind me of my father...I hated my father!" The criminal held the back of the man's head while pressing a blade to his mouth.

"Okay, stop." The nasily, naggy voice of Rachel Dawes cut the air as she stood from the crowd. I almost tilted my head in confusion, wondering what would happen next. The Joker released the man who was snatched up by a couple goons.

"Why hello, beautiful," He purred, fixing his hair. "You must be Harvey's squeeze. Hmmn? And you are beautiful." As the Joker circled around her, Rachel flinched like there was a bad smell in the air. "You look nervous. Is it the scars? Wanna know how I got 'em?"

He reached out for her, holding a blade to her mouth as she struggled to get away.

"So I had a wife, beautiful, like you, who tells me, I worry too much. Who tells me, I ought to smile more. Who gambles and gets in deep with the sharks. One day they carve her face. We have no money for surgeries, she can't take it. I just want to see her smile again, I just want her to know I don't care about the scars. So I stick a razor in my mouth and do this...to myself. And you know what? She can't stand the sight of me! She leaves. Now I see the funny side; now I'm always smiling," Rachel delivered a girly punch to his side, earning a slight grunt and a laugh. He waved the blade at her. "A little fight in you, I like that."

I had been so focused on Joker I didn't see the Batman standing next to him. I was a little surprised the Joker hadn't noticed until Batman went to deliver a punch. Joker blocked it a little too late which sent him reeling to the floor. His goons surrounded the Bat ganging up on him easily. Joker stood and stomped his foot on the floor; a small, two inch blade flicked out of his shoe. Giggling a little, he approached Batman, his men made way for him, and delivered a stabbing kick to Batman's abdomen.

Everyone gasped at the dirty trick. Joker grabbed one of his men by the collar and threw him at Batman who was still beating up bad guys like it was no one's business. Batman quickly beat down that thug and hit the Joker squarely in the chest, sending him to the ground again. While the Dark Knight fought off goons, the Joker scrambled on the floor and found a snub nosed pistol. He grasped Rachel Dawes, almost like a human body sheild, and put the gun to her head.

"Drop the gun." Batman grumbled.

"Sure, you take off your little mask and show us all who you really are. Hmn?" With a hoarse laugh, Joker held the gun behind him and shot out the window, sending a chill into the whole penthouse. Joker twirled around, eventually to where he held Rachel by the arm, practically dangling out the window.

"Let her go." Batman grumbled again.

"Very poor choice of words," Joker uttered before laughing and letting Rachel fall out the window. Batman rushed forward, pushing Joker aside and leaping after the district attorney's girl. I heard a gasp come from Autumn. When I looked at her, I saw she had covered her mouth with her hand.

"Autumn?" I whispered.

"Miss Alice!" One of the goons who had actually done pretty well in the scuffle had noticed me. I remember this being one of the few men who regularly went with me on jobs. "Miss Alice, you should come back with us. It's just not the same without you."

I felt my color drain away. People were staring, and whispering. "Uh, I think you have the wrong person..." I whispered.

"No, I don't!" He smiled, shaking his head. The goon turned and went to the Joker who had gone back to grilling party goers about Dent. "Boss, sorry to interrupt but -" He whispered into the Joker's ear. For a moment the Joker looked annoyed. But once the goon had said his peace, the Joker straightened and faced the direction the goon pointed in. My direction.

My heart jumped into my throat. I wasn't sure if it was out of fear or excitement.

"Well," The Joker licked his lips, taking a step in my direction. Autumn gripped harder on my arm, nearly cutting off the circulation. "I'm sure the party-pooper will be back any moment now. So," the Joker pushed Autumn away from me, easily breaking her grip on my arm. Joker stood behind me, his chin resting on my shoulder, placing his gloved hands on my arms. "I'll just be taking this one as compensation for Dent."

"No!" Autumn cried. A look of fury had struck my best friend; a look I knew almost too well. "You took her once before, don't make her go again."

"Alright," Joker licked his lips, let go of me, and stepped away. "We'll have her choose; which will it be, _Doc_? Stay here where your family gives up on you, and your position at Arkham has already been taken, and the only hope of staying sane is with your best friend? Or with me; where you do what you want and no one talks back or ignores you. Where they don't call the _cooppsss_ on you."

I stood inbetween Autumn and the Joker. Autumn, who had tears in her eyes and silently begged me to stay. And the Joker, who couldn't stand still for an instant. Joker was right; I could stay with Autumn. And although my position had been taken in Arkham because of my absence, I could probably get a job with Autumn. And forever hear about Bruce and be hounded by my family who gave up on me. Or I could go with him and live almost as good as a queen.

Looking back and forth between the two, I knew what my decision was. I settled my vision on my best friend. She smiled and straightened, hoping that my line of sight meant who I was going with.

"I'm sorry, Tummy," I whispered as I took a step towards the Joker. "Don't hate me."

Grasping my hand, Joker mumbled something and ushered me to the elevator. His men closely followed, guns pointed at the crowd, just in case. It was silent in the elevator, like it often was after a job. The adrenaline was lowering itself and the main focus now was the get away. I wondered if the getaway car was the van or Suburban tonight.

The elevator stopped on the basement level and everyone rushed out. Joker's grasp on my hand was practically a stangle hold. In a single file line, we ran through a maze of hallways and finally made it to a set of stairs that lead to a door. The door opened to the outside, darkness and the chilly Gotham air swept over us. As if no time had passed at all, Joker allowed me in the Suburban first before climbing in next to me.

I looked out the window as we drove away, in the opposite direction that the police cars were heading. Small talk had broken out among the men, something I was more than greatful for. I couldn't help but smile; this whole month, I had wanted nothing more than to run away and start over. And here I was, back in a car with the Joker. In a six hundred dollar dress, none the less.

"You, ah, look nice." The Joker spoke, as if he was picking every word carefully. My smile widened. A compliment from the Joker was rare.

"Uh, thanks," A sudden thought struck me and I faced the Joker. "Can I ask why you took me back?"

"I didn't, ah, take you. Yoouuu came on your own," He uttered, pulling off his leather gloves. "But I'll answer it anyway. Things were getting so..._borrinngg_."

"Admit it, you missed me." I crooned.

Joker looked at me, a startled look on his face. I wondered if I had read his emotions correctly. He narrowed his eyes. "Perhaps. But now you tell me; why did you choose to come back?"

"Things were getting so..._borrinngg_." I replied, mocking his voice the best I could. The small smile on my face told him I meant no disrespect. "But in all seriousness, how did you know about my family's decision on the death certificate and Bruce calling the cops on me? And my job at Arkham?"

"Please," A snort came from him. "There's nothing I won't know without a little pursuasion."

With a shrug, I looked back out the window, watching people and buildings pass. The driver took a sharp left turn, throwing every passenger to the right. I was sure the Joker felt crushed as I landed on him. As I tried to sit up, I found I was being held into place. The Joker held me to him as we laid on the seats. My long, dark hair acted like a curtain over our faces.

I felt the bareness of his hand caressing my cheek as I watched him lick his lips hungrily. Gazing into his unreadable brown eyes, I dared to wonder what he thought. My lips parted and I could smell the coffee on his breath. I wasn't sure why, but the familiar smell of him made me smile. I had to admit, I was quite surprised when our lips locked.

The kiss seemed as dangerous as any gun, the wound that it created in my heart as deadly as any bullet. Like shooting an innocent man, you can't take this action back. It's something that is going to change you, something that is going to haunt you.

AUTUMN POV

I could feel eyes on me; I felt my blood freeze in my veins, preventing the blush that should have been on my face as the socialites started to whisper and mummer about what they had just saw. Slowly in small packs, they left right as police sirens started to near. Let them gossip, I never wanted to fit in to their clubs anyway.

Angry started to heat up my blood and forcing me into movement. The anger pushed back the fear and worry that was starting to slowly consume me. Anger edged me over to the broken window; it tilted my head down to scope the street below for any signs of Batman or Rachel. Even though they all looked like tiny ants, I could still seem the confused and frightened people below. But, they were not what I was interested in.

I heard the elevator ding; glancing over my shoulder I saw a distressed Rachel and Bruce, who had managed to get back into his suit.

He held up finger out to me as he grabbed onto Rachel's wrist and led her off into the hall. I heard exclamations from Dent and his girlfriend as well as a plethora of gratitude towards Bruce for protecting Harvey.

Bruce led them back to the elevator, once more ignoring me until the doors shut before him.

"Autumn everything is going to be alright," He said. turning to face me he gave me a look full of concern. "I know that Alice went back with the Joker. I heard people talking about it. I won't let anything harm you."

"Everything is going to be alright? That's what you're going to tell me? After my friend chose an insane criminal over me? After I had to watch a man I care about a lot jump out of a window? Bruce, you may dress like a fucking bat, but you sure as hell can't fly like one." I snapped as I started to close the distance between his. My heels slapped the marble beneath me; my breath was sharp and shaky.

Bruce took the last step to close the distance, he reached out slowly, the way you would do to try and touch a defensive animal.

I reacted fast, I slapped his hand away, he caught my hand in a tight grip. Our arms were hovering above our heads. "Please, don't pity me. I'm sure you have other things to think about anyway."

"Pity," he growled, "I don't pity you Autumn. I'm concerned about you." His blue eyes met my own; I crumbled under the strength of both his gaze and his body. I lowered my hand, bringing his with me. Ashamed in both myself and my actions, I let my head tilt down so that I could look at the floor.

"I can't lose both of you." I said hoarsely as tears started to stab at the corners of my eyes. "I just can't." Now the tears had started to spill over and out, they trickled down my face like summer rain on windows. This would be the second time he was going to see my cry.

Bruce's hand went under my chin and cupped it, so he could tilt my head back up to look him in the eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You better not." I muttered between silent sobs and tears, I must have been the most beautiful woman ever. Who doesn't love a red-head with a river of mascara down her face?

"Because, now I love you." I whimpered; this couldn't be the most ideal way to tell him but already I could feel the weight of it off of my body.

He blinked a few times as my feelings came to light, my heart was now on center stage and he was taking it all in. But there was a hint that something else was on his mind, I didn't have all of his attention. I probably never will.

"I love you too." His words seemed shaky, as if he couldn't make up his mind about the statement. But, this was one step closer I had to take this as a positive thing. With Alice gone, Bruce was the closest person to me in this royally fucked up city.

Maybe one day, I'll crack the code of Bruce Wayne.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello lovelies! Thank you all so so much for reading this story! Seriously, Brenda and I cannot thank you guys enough. And so you know, this is the last chapter, but we're writing a part two and we've decided to title it _Fiends and Frenimies_. We would deeply appreciate it if you guys looked out for it. Thanks guys :)**

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><p><strong>Chapter Fourteen<strong>

BRUCE POV

It was just a few hours after Autumn's confession, a couple more since my heroic act at my benefit. But here I was, wide awake in bed, mulling over the idea that I should still go out and patrol tonight. I couldn't be sure that Joker wouldn't try to pull something else off. I couldn't add more innocent bloodshed to what already stained my hands. I pulled myself into a sitting position, the sheets slide down my bare and slightly bruised chest, the scratch marks on my back still stung as the pressed against the pillow. Two different wounds caused by two different people that I cared for very dearly. One was a lot less terrifying to obtain than the other.

I glanced down at Autumn, her face burrowed into the pillow while her slender pale arm was stretched out across my stomach. This might be a problem…

Looking down at her I couldn't help but to feel just a little bit guilty. Not because I was going to leave her in the middle of the night, but because I might never be the man that she wants. Or, the man that she deserves. Autumn tossed her heart out into the open today, it was such a sudden thing that it hadn't crossed my mind before. Even if I couldn't match the average idea of love, right now, I felt something pretty damn close to it.

But, I could never be normal or average man, at least not right now. What I chose to do with my life is what drives women away, what drives me in the opposite direction of a relationship. Sure, I can achieve most parts of the perfect boyfriend role easily; but as for a future with her, I wasn't so sure that I could obtain that. If she stayed with me, I couldn't promise marriage and children were way out of the question…

But I didn't want to let her go, the idea of her being with another man made my stomach and heart twist…

I pinched the corners of my eyes and rubbed, my head was starting to spin from such thought. I slowly started to ease my way out of the bed, pushing Autumn's grasp aside. I knew that if I went out, I could clear my mind of this guilt at least for now. Just as I was about to let my bare feet kiss the floor, I felt her stir next to me. She gave a little murmur and a soft moan; her finger tips brushed my arm.

"No Bruce," she whispered pleadingly, "no not tonight."

"Autumn, I have to." I whispered, turning around to face her. "I'd feel guilty if something that happens that I could have prevented."

She pulled herself up onto her knees, reached out and wrapped her arms around my neck; her gaze was dead on mine. "Please Bruce, I need you to stay." Her mouth formed a little childish pout but her words were sincere.

With her eyes dead locked onto mine, her pink lips in that pout, and our bare bodies pressed so close together; saying no was becoming a much harder task. With a heavy sigh, I threw myself back onto the bed, taking her with me.

No matter which choice I made, guilt was going to linger on me like a bad smell.

She kissed my collar bone, "good boy. I would have been very cold without you."

"I could have gotten you another blanket," I muttered.

She sighed and rested her head on my chest, "I take back that good part. You'll always be a smart ass."

I chuckled softly, slowly allowing myself to push away my forced responsibilities out of my mind; I relaxed back into bed and into a much needed sleep.

AUTUMN POV

The morning light burned through my eyelids and right into my retinas, I didn't want to get up but I had a shop to run. Unlike the man next to me, I wasn't sitting on top of a huge trust fund. For once, Bruce was still asleep next to me. Smiling, this time I was the one who had to sneak out of bed without waking him.

"How did you do it?" Alfred asked as I walked out into the main room, he was relaxing in a chair with tea and the newspaper. "I've been trying for a very long time to get him to take a night off."

I smirked at him, "for one Alfred, you're not a woman," I teased as I headed for the elevator.

"Do you want me to drive you to work?" He asked his tone was pleasant and endearing.

"No, you enjoy your day off." I waved goodbye before I vanished behind the metal doors.

Hailing a cab once I was outside and almost instantly stuck in terrible morning traffic, I let myself slip into deep thought.

I was worried about Alice, I felt as if she was going to be totally gone from my life if I didn't manage to do anything. But the risks of running into the most dangerous parts of the city surely meant that I was going to die. I couldn't let Alice feel like she was the cause of my death; it would be the truth if you didn't factor in the stupidity it would take. I could always try to join her ranks, but I wasn't the criminal type… And with Bruce knowing where she stood in this crime war, I knew that he was going to be watching me like a hawk. His protection was a guaranty, but so was the hassle of him knowing my whereabouts. It would be tricky to try and slip out of his watch.

Bruce was another matter that concerned me; his normal distracted behavior had started to get worse with the passing days. And I couldn't help but to get the feeling that he still had feelings, strong feelings, for Rachel Dawes. There was just something in the way he looked at her that made me feel self conscious about our relationship.

I couldn't get to thinking like that, it would eat me up and in turn I would turn what I had with him inside-out as I tried to inspect every detail. Bruce was too many people at once for me to ever predict his actions, it was going to take a lot of patience on my part to try and understand each face he wore.

"Ma'am, we've reached yer stop," the cab driver barked.

Shaking my head back into a clear state, I opened the door and made sure to give him a big tip before I climbed out onto the curb. Seeing the store front of Cake Paradise was enough to put me at ease. Who needs to worry about life when I'm making delicious treats that will make strangers smile?

ALICE POV

I sat on a couch that the boys usually occupied when there was nothing to do in the area where everyone congregated for meetings. Most of the men argued in front of the plush purple chair that the Joker usually sat in as he explained plans. Actually, the Joker usually walked around and used his hands in abstract explanations. He was not a person who could sit still for long.

Joker had been taken to Arkham, along with a handful of the thugs who were being used for the final test for Batman. I wondered if Joker knew going to Arkham had to be part of the plan. There would have been no way for him to get out clean like usual. Which explained why he ordered that I sit this one out.

"Are you retarded?" One man shouted to another. "Alice can't hold this place together!"

"Why's that?" Another shouted back. "Cause she's a chick?"

The first man gulped, trying to get out of the ditch he had dug himself in. Once again the argument erupted, drowning out my own thoughts. This was what the whole argument was a bout; whether I should take hold of the empire Joker had built or if someone else should take it. I was getting tired of the arguing and I felt there was only one good decision.

Standing from the couch, I pushed my way through the heated argument. As I headed towards the purple chair the men began to quite down and watched as I strode to the throne. However, there were a few who were still bickering when I stood in front of the chair, facing the crowd. I couldn't help but feel like royalty as all eyes sat on me, waiting for my next words.

"Whether you men like it or not," I spoke loudly and clearly. The last few men stopped arguing. "I'm the only one who knows what the Joker had planned next. The mob is surely to be out for our organization now that Joker's gone."

"What're we going to do about them?" Someone asked.

I bit my lip, wondering if I should share what I had been thinking to the rest of the men. "We break the Joker out of Arkham," the uttering began again until I held up my hands to get it to stop. "Trust me; I know what I'm doing. I know a few of you have connections here and there but if any of you know someone who's willing to help us, payment is not a concern. With the mob coming after what Joker has set up and who knows what other criminals they have with them, we have to be prepared."

There were some agreeing utters, some not so agreeable.

"If you don't like me taking over for now, you can leave. Stay in the cold, be arrested by cops and be sent to Blackgate. But if you choose to stay, know that the same rules apply as before and I will not tolerate insubordination."

My words seemed to be bigger than I was, than any other man in that room. I knew that I had their attention for now, but I knew I was going to have to prove myself to keep it.

JOKER POV

I hummed as I was shoved around like a pinball in its machine from guard to guard. Being stripped and thrown into a cold shower while several people watched me, even a couple guns pointed at me, was a little unnerving though. As my make up washed away, I felt like lost the whole war. The only thing I had left, gone, washed down the drain. The shower shut off automatically and a guard came to my side, dragging me into another room.

He threw me into a bare white room with a bare concrete floor. The guard barked out an order and threw a set of standard orange clothes at me. I sneered. Orange. The worst possible color someone could have picked. I'd rather wear pink.

After dressing myself in the awful clothing Arkham assigned me, Patient number 4479, another guard stomped in and put me in handcuffs. Yanking me off the floor, he led me to my cell. Again, I was thrown into a room, this time it was a cell with one bed, a toilet, and sink. The guard un-cuffed me before slamming the bars shut.

"Welcome to Arkham, scumbag," The guard spat.

Lying on the bed, I crossed my legs and smiled up at the ceiling. Alice stuck in my mind. She was going to get me out of here. I knew she was. There was no way someone I had so wrapped around my little finger wouldn't.

"It's so nice to be in my new ha-ha-hacienda," I purred, laughing out loud to no one. I found it relatively easy to float in the white noise of the wicked; to me it was the chirping of morning birds.

There might be a slim chance that I was going to enjoy my vacation here at Arkham.


End file.
